Harry Potter and the New Beginnings
by As the Robin Flies
Summary: The final battle is over and Harry is free to move on with his life. At first he tries to go through it alone, but he realizes that he will always have the help of those close to him. Harry and Ginny and their life after the war. Some other pairings too.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first published fanfiction ever and my first Harry Potter fanfiction that I have written. If I can get three reviews then I'll post the next chapter. They cannot all be from the same person though, so get other people to read and review! Thank you all for reading.

~Robin

Dsclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Harry Potter.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_May 2nd 1998_

Ginny was standing beside her mother in the great hall when she saw Ron and Hermione returning from the entrance hall. Just the two of them. She quietly walked over and looked at them, pleading with her eyes. Hermione, sensing what she needed to know quietly said, "He went up to the dormitories to sleep. Go up, but he needs his rest."

Ginny just nodded and left the great hall, wandering slowly up the grand staircase until she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. The grand woman, who was usually in her frame, was gone, so Ginny opened the portrait-hole and climbed through. She still remembered how she used to have to scramble through as a scrawny little first year, and looked slowly around the comfy common room. It's usual crowds were absent, leaving it as only a big, empty space, absent of life, except for the coals of a dieing fire.

She headed toward the stairs to boys dormitory and climbed quietly to the top, but she hesitated in front of the door. Should she really go in, with the risk of waking him from his much-needed sleep? She convinced herself, _This doesn't mean that we're getting back together, I just need to know that he's really okay, after seeing him dead and all of that._ She knew that wasn't truly her reason. She still loved him, even if he didn't love her anymore.

She steeled herself to open the door and walk towards his bed. He was sprawled across it, his mouth gaping open, his clothes a mess. They were ripped and burnt and his face wasn't much better. It was coated in dirt and dried blood (hopefully not his own), and all other manners of grime. Ginny slowly walked over and gently brushed a lock of his hair off his forehead, allowing the scar underneath to peak through. Even only one hour after Voldemort had finally been defeated, the scar was already starting to fade. It was turning from a red, irritated line, into what a normal sixteen-year-old scar should look like.

She let one solitary tear make its way down her cheek before she gently kissed his cheek, pulled herself together, and made her way back down the stairs to the empty common room.

Ginny walked quickly away from the kitchens and back to the great hall. She had just asked Kreacher to send up some fresh clothes and sandwiches for Harry when he finally woke up. She had noticed polite how Kreacher had been. Normally he would have been muttering something like _filthy mud-bloods and blood-traitors, dirtying the house of my fathers,_ but today he had actually been quite pleasant. She decided to ask Harry about it later, if she ever got the chance to anyway. He might never want anything to do with her ever again.

Once Ginny reentered the great hall she was swept immediately up into her mother's arms.

"Ginny, Ginny, oh thank goodness, you're okay," her mother said hurriedly, "Ginny, oh, it's Fred. He was crushed by a falling wall, and, and, they aren't sure that he's going to make it!"

"No, not Fred," Ginny brushed past her mother toward where Fred was lying by the staff table. His chest was moving faintly up and down. Sitting by his side was George, silent, staring at his injured twin. Ginny went to sit down and curled into his side, not only to comfort him, but for the small amount of human contact that her brother could give her.

Just when her eyes had almost closed with lethargy, she saw one of his eyelids flutter. His eyes opened and he moaned, "Eurggh," before his eyes closed again.

George suddenly chuckled, "That's the best you can do regaining consciousness; at least I made a joke."

Fred makes a muffled snort that Ginny realizes must have been a laugh, that then turned into coughs. Dust came out of his mouth. It seemed to clear his lungs and they could hear him breathing quietly. His chest moved up and down more visibly.

"Looks like laughter really is the best medicine, doesn't it George," Ginny whispered with a small smile.

George gave her a little grin back "I guess it is, little sis'. I guess it is."

* * *

_May 3rd 1998_

Harry gently rolled over in his bed. His eyes flickered open and he saw the red and gold canopy above him and felt the fluffy blankets and pillows piled up around him. He sat bolt upright before his spinning head brought him back down into the clutches of the bed. His hand roamed slowly to his left until he finds his glasses on the bed-side table. He pushed them carefully onto his nose. He was right, he's in the boys dormitories at Hogwarts. He looks over to the small window on the right side of his bed. Dusk, he had only slept for a few short hours, no wonder he still felt like a thirty-ton giant had stepped on him.

This time, he sat up slowly so that the blood wouldn't rush right out of his head. His head ached and his stomach was gurgling with hunger. He had eaten before he fell asleep, how could he already be so hungry? Then it hit him. Harry mentally kicked himself. _He had been asleep for more than a day!_

Harry stood up to find some sandwiches and fresh clothes at the foot of his bed. He went to put on the clothes, but before he was fully undressed he saw how terrible he looked. He was covered in a coat of grime and blood, and stunk the back-side of a Hippogriff. He was badly in need of a shower.

He walked carefully over to the bathroom and turned the hot water in the shower up to full pressure. He grabbed a bar of soap and rubbed himself thoroughly all over. He noticed the burns up and down his arms and legs and the bruises covering his backside, but most of all he noticed the fist-sized purple bruise right over his heart. It was were Voldemort had hit him with the killing curse in the forest the morning before.

He groaned quietly as the aches and pains from the last two days melted away with the pressure of the hot water. He suddenly realized there was another warm spot that felt like a healing bruise, but he couldn't remember being hit there. He stepped out of the shower and looked in the mirror. His eyes were again drawn to the bruise on his chest and to his ribs. He could count every one of them. He brought his eyes up to his face, where he could see his already healing scar. He then moved them to his cheek, where he felt the heat, but there was no mark on the skin at all. Not a single bruise or cut or anything that could be causing that heat, unless. He instantly pushed the thought out of his head. Ginny didn't love him anymore. He had broken up with her. She probably hated his guts, especially after he made her stay behind when they all went out to fight. His heart jolted, knowing that he would never again be able to kiss her, or hold her hand, or even share a warm hug with her ever again. He just wished he had gotten one last chance to make everything right again.

He slowly dressed in the clean clothes and went over to eat about four sandwiches from the plate Kreacher must have brought to him. They were a little stale, so they must have been brought up the day before.

After eating he went down to the great hall to find Ron and Hermione. On his way down he saw all the wreckage of walls and paintings and statues that had been destroyed the day before. There were broken pieces of rock everywhere. Burn marks and holes were scattered through paintings and over the walls. He remembered the wall that had fallen on Fred and could only hope that help had gotten to him in time. Harry shivered just to think about any more of the people he cared about dieing.

He finally found his way to the wide open doors in the entry hall and walked discreetly in through the hustle and bustle of people moving around. They were helping the wounded, and eating, and helping with preparations leave. Harry made his way to the area up by the staff table where Madame Pomfrey was working with some students healing everyone up. Harry saw Ginny up there working with her and quickly turned away from the student helpers and to the busy nurse.

She tutted to him about how many times she had healed him in the past, and that he really had to learn to take better care of himself. Harry just sighed and searched the hall. He quickly found a knot of red-headed people surrounding one spot in the hall. He knew that was where he was wanted and where he would soon be going.

They were all gathered around one other person with red hair. Harry walked over and saw that they were talking to a beat-up looking Fred. Harry let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding in. Fred was alive. He had made it through the fight. That meant that all of the Weasleys were still alive. Then he remembered. Remus and Tonks had both died. That left Harry as Teddy's only caretaker, unless Andromeda wanted to keep him with her of course. The elation that had soared through him after seeing Fred slowly left him, as he remembered the other dead.

He felt a sudden pressure on each side. Ron and Hermione were both grinning at him. "Hey mate, what's with the long face?" Ron asks.

"Isn't it obvious, Ronald, that Harry still feels bad about how Remus and Tonks are both gone," Hermione scolds. She always had had the aptitude of guessing exactly how Harry was feeling.

"Remember Harry, they went out the way they would have wanted to, fighting to make a better world for their son."

"I know Hermione, it's just, I grew up without my parents. I don't want Teddy to have to go through that same situation-"

"Harry, he has you, and Andromeda, and all of us to help. You only had the Dursleys, and they were never a help at all to you." Hermione interrupted. "He'll at least grow up with a loving family surrounding him."

Harry felt immediately cheered by that thought, until he thought about telling Andromeda about their deaths. "How are we going to tell her?" He whispered.

"Tell who what?" Ron said in his usual clueless manner."

"Andromeda, about Remus and Tonks," Hermione clarified for him.

"We'll just have to come strait out and say it, mate," Ron said quietly. "There isn't any other way to do it. We're leaving tomorrow to go back to the Burrow. We can stop on the way to tell her."

"If that's the only way," Harry set his mind on it, strengthening himself for the coming task.

"It is," Hermione confirmed. "Would you have it any other way?"

She sat down and Ron put his arm around her, leaving Harry to his own thoughts of the bad news Andromeda had coming to her the next day.

* * *

_May 4th 1998_

"Harry, dear, there you are we were just getting ready to go," Mrs. Weasley said, right when Harry walked into the hall the next morning. "You are coming back to the Burrow with us right?" she continued, daring him with her eyes to say that he wasn't.

"Oh, of course, but Hermione, Ron, and I have one little stop to make first. We have to tell Mrs. Tonks about Remus and Tonks. It's important." Harry pleaded.

"Well, of course dear. You could invite her to come join us for some lunch if she likes," she suggested.

"That sounds like a brilliant idea Mrs. Weasley." Harry said as he sat down to eat some breakfast. He didn't think Andromeda would accept the invitation, but it was at least worth a try, and he figured he owed it to the Weasleys to at least humor Mrs. Weasley with that one little thing.

After Harry finished eating he quickly found Ron and Hermione. They might as well get this over with. He grabbed each of their arms and turned on the spot (the protections spells around Hogwarts had been damaged and repairs hadn't yet been started). A few seconds later he was on the doorstep of the Tonks' home.

He stepped forward and knocked quietly. Andromeda came out carrying little Teddy in her arms. "Oh, Nymphadora, I was so worried..." she stopped talking when she noticed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione are standing there, not her daughter and her husband. "I'm sorry, come in, come in. I expect you're here to tell me when Nymphadora and Remus are coming home, they're always so busy trying to help out..."

She keeps talking as the trio follow her into the sitting room and she puts Teddy down on a rug scattered with baby toys.

"Mrs. Tonks," Harry interrupted her rambling, "I'm so sorry, but Remus and Tonks were both killed by death eaters the day of the final battle. They both died valiantly and I'm sure that-" Harry stopped abruptly as she fell to the floor and Teddy immediately started to bawl.

Hermione took control quickly. "Harry, pick Teddy up and try to get him to calm down. Ron, floo to St. Mungo's and get a healer over here this instant, I'll do the best I can to help her until a proper healer gets here." The boys just stared blankly at her. "Well, get moving, go!" she shouted. They all jumped into action as she knelt on the ground by Andromeda's head. She quickly checked her pulse. It was gone. She tried muggle CPR, and a simple spell, but she had never practiced very much healing. It was one of the few things that they didn't teach at Hogwarts. Nothing was working anyway.

By the time that the healer arrived Harry had quieted Teddy and he was nodding of to sleep. The healer, Healer Brown, went over to where Hermione knelt. He felt for a pulse and muttered a few quick spells, but he was too late to save her. "I'm sorry, but it's too late. She's gone. Was there anything to stimulate this?" he asked professionally.

"We had just told her that her daughter and son-in-law had died in the Battle of Hogwarts," Harry whispered, clearly horrified.

"I would say that it was stimulated by the shock and grief of the news. Her heart stopped. I am so sorry for your losses," he said, still professional, but sounding quite sincere. "My family was fighting there too, but luckily my younger sister only sustained a few injuries."

They all just stood there a moment before the Healer Brown recovered enough to ask "Does the baby have anywhere to go? If not we'll have to take him to the hospital until we can find a place for him."

Harry's arms tightened around Teddy. "No, he's my godson. I'll take him now and go to the ministry to deal with all the proper paperwork tomorrow." Harry's voice sounded strained. "He will be raised by a loving family, not an orphanage that the hospital sends him to."

"Good, I would rather not have to do that to such a special child," the healer said as Teddy's hair changed from light brown to turquoise in his sleep. "Take good care of him. I'll leave you to take care of the body?" he asks.

"Yes, we'll put her to rest with her family." Hermione quickly cut in. Healer Brown quickly bowed and left them in peace with the dead woman and the sleeping baby.

Hermione collapsed onto the couch, shocked, while Harry and Ron just stood there, staring blankly at Andromeda, lying dead on the floor.

"I-I thought the deaths would end after the battles were over," Harry managed to choke out.

"Harry, you should know, the real battles are only just beginning. The real battles are between the ones dead, and the ones living, living their lives without them," Hermione stated wisely.

* * *

_May 5th 1998_

The next morning the funerals started. At ten o'clock Remus and Tonks were buried. It was a simple ceremony. They were laid to rest in the Tonk's family plot along with Ted Tonks, who had also died in the last year. "They died the way they lived, making the world a better place for humanity, and especially for their son," Harry finished his speech.

Teddy had been strangely quiet throughout the ceremony, like he knew exactly what was going on. He was now being held by Hermione until Harry once again took his seat. It wasn't until the coffins were magically lowered into the graves and covered in dirt that he started to cry. It loud and messy and tears ran down every other person's faces along with him. Harry didn't know how long they sat there, but when Mrs. Weasley stood, signaling for everybody to leave, Harry stood, noticing how Teddy had finally quieted down and had cried himself to sleep.

That afternoon it was Andromeda's funeral. It was a couple dozen people. Less than forty. Less than forty people knew Andromeda well enough to be bothered to come to her funeral. The only person to make a speech was old Augusta Longbottom, who had apparently been friends with Andromeda for years. "She couldn't have lived without her family for long either way. She was a loving mother, faithful wife and, terrific friend, but she stood up for what she believed in and she depended on the people who loved her. Maybe it was for the best that she didn't have to try to live without them," she finished her long-winded speech. Everybody stayed for a few minutes after the coffins was placed beneath the ground.

Augusta Longbottom came up to Harry and Teddy and said quietly "You had better care for that one like he was your own flesh and blood, Potter. You're all he has left, and he needs a father in his life. You are his father. I know you won't let him replace you for Remus and I agree with that, but let him be your son, don't keep him from having that just to keep him from losing sight of Remus," she quickly walked out of the graveyard and apparated away.

Harry just stood there shocked, but he knew she was right. He would never have let Teddy call him 'dad'. He wouldn't have wanted him to remember him as his father instead of Remus. She was right. Harry decided right then that he would _be_ Teddy's father. He would treat him just like he would his own son, but he would not lie about who Teddy's parents really were. He would tell him as soon as he was old enough to understand.

* * *

_May 9th 1998_

The last funeral was Collin's. Collin Creevey, the first year who had worshiped Harry and followed him everywhere. He had grown up in the muggle world, and had not known his mother was a witch until he was brought to Hogwarts, followed eventually by his brother.

Harry didn't speak at this funeral. The only thing he could do was hold Teddy and blame himself for Collin's death. Ginny, however, did speak. Until she talked about him, Harry hadn't known that she had known Collin so well. The final speaker was Dennis, Collins younger brother. He was only a fifth year and had already experienced so much sadness at such a young age. His mother leaving and his brother's death were such traumatic experiences for a fifteen-year-old. Harry had, of course, had gone through much worse than that, but Harry had been no ordinary child. "Collin was a terrific older brother, and a loyal friend, and he died fighting for something that could never have been stupid or idiotic. He died fighting for peace and for friendship, and so that no mother would ever have to do what ours did."

Harry went up to Dennis and patted him on the shoulder. "You said it all Dennis," he said, and walked away from the grave of one of the most innocent people he had ever known. There was still the memorial to deal with and he had to be there to make a speech, even one that he didn't think needed to be given.

The memorial for those who had died took place on the Hogwarts grounds. It was a sunny day by the lake near where Dumbledore's marble tomb lay.

A monument had been magically constructed to be just a plain while marble wall with names carved into the stone of all the people who died for the cause of defeating Lord Voldemort. It was charmed so that whenever somebody was found who had died for the cause they were easily added to the wall by just saying the name when looking at the wall. Other people who fought in the battles were also listed on the wall, but only the people who died fighting had a wand carving next to their names.

There were golden chairs out in the grounds next to the lake under an awning to block out the sun. The front of the field of chairs was the monument, shining in the light from the setting sun. As people started to take their seats, the people who fought sat near the front. Harry, who was speaking sat in the front row along with Kingsley and Professor McGonagall, who were also speaking. Once most of the seats were filled, Kingsley stood up to begin the ceremony. He started by listing the people who had died from Harry's parents, to Cedric Diggory, to Dumbledore, to all the people who had died in the Battle of Hogwarts. He then gave his little speech.

Others followed him. McGonagall, Slughorn, Mr. Weasley, several people from the Ministry of Magic and finally, Harry. When Harry's name was called, the silence became absolute. The birds seemed to stop singing and the wind suddenly stood still, while Harry made his way to the podium at the front, his palms sweating.

When he got to the front his nerves suddenly disappeared. He started, "I wrote something long, and boring, for this, but then I realized that to all of those who lost somebody in the war, that wouldn't mean anything." The silence continued, but some people were starting to smile. "I lost many people through this war. My parents, my godfather, Professor Dumbledore, and some of my closest friends. They wouldn't want us to mourn them and think about how much better it would be if they were still here today because, face it, if they were here it would be worse." The audience let out some gasps at this, but Harry continued, "That may sound cruel, and cold-hearted, but think about it. They gave their lives so that we could live. We are only alive and free today because of the sacrifice that they made for us and for our lives to be better than they have been since Voldemort returned almost three years ago." He heard some more gasps at the name. "All I want, is a moment of silence for those who died fighting for us to live the lives we live today. Remember them for what they did, not how it could have been if they had lived." The audience was silent as Harry bowed his head for the sixty silent seconds he had requested.

He realized, that that was exactly what Mrs. Longbottom had been trying to tell him at Andromeda's funeral about what he had to do with Teddy. He would never want anyone to forget the people who had died, but they had to go on with their lives the way that they would have if those people had never died. Harry vowed, from that day forth, to live the life that he was meant to live. When Harry looked up again almost everybody was gone, except for the Weasley's, Hermione, and Teddy, waiting for him. He walked calmly over and Hermione came strait forward to give him a hug as her silent thank you for his speech. Nothing else was needed. He followed everyone to the apparation point so that they could all go to live the lives that they were meant to live and to make their own difference in the world.

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Remember, three people, three reviews, and another chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello again everybody! Aren't you glad I'm updating? I hope so. I am following my promise. I got my third (and fourth) reviews today, so I am giving you the next chapter. I have two more chapters already written, so if you want the next one, guess what you need? Five reviews this time.

Hope you enjoy!

~Robin

Diclaimer: Is this mine? I wish, but alas ("earwax" -Albus Dumbledore), I do not own it. It belongs to the wonderful Ms. J.K. Rowling.

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_Chapter 2_

_May 13th 1998_

"Bleurrghh," Harry moaned as the baby monitoring spell sent an alarm through his head. The noise in his head wouldn't stop until Harry left Ron's room to go and deal with Teddy.  
The last few days, Harry had been trying to take more responsibility for Teddy. In three days he had learned how to change diapers, properly hold a baby, clean up after a baby, feed a baby, dress a baby, and the list goes on. He also got woken up at least twice throughout the night because Teddy was crying in his crib in Bill's old bedroom.

It had been the only available bedroom left, but it was too small for both Harry and Teddy, so Harry had found a baby monitoring charm that would wake him up when Teddy started crying. They had a silencing charm on the room so he that wouldn't wake anybody else up. Harry was with Ron on the upper landing. Fred and George were taking a break from working at the shop and were on the landing below that. Then Percy was taking some time to be with the family and was in his bedroom on the same floor as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's bedroom. Ginny and Hermione were below them in the room next to Bill's old room where Teddy was.

Harry walked carefully down the stairs because they had a tendency to creek, but he still managed to make noise once he got down to the first floor landing and opened Teddy's door.

What he didn't see as he carefully went into Teddy's room was that Ginny's door opened just a crack, revealing one brown eye looking through it.

Ginny had been waiting for a time when Harry was taking Teddy down to the kitchen for a midnight feeding for the past three days and it looked like her chance had finally come. She was pretty sure that Harry didn't love her anymore, but she didn't want him to be avoiding her either. That was what it seemed like he had been doing since they had come back to the Burrow.

Nobody had been the same since they had come back from the final battle. Grief had been weighing people down even with Harry's impressive speech about living their lives the way they were meant to be lived. It still took adjusting to not have the people that you had learned to rely on be in your life anymore. Ginny held back a small sob for Tonks, who had been one of her best friends, and had taught her so much.

Once Harry was in Teddy's bedroom to comfort the poor baby she snuck quietly down to the kitchen to wait for Harry's inevitable visit with Teddy for a fresh bottle.

Meanwhile, Harry had been getting Teddy to calm down. Harry smelled the diaper, he didn't need a change, he looked like he wasn't too cold or warm, and he wasn't being sick, so he must have been hungry.

Harry picked Teddy up carefully and carried him down to the kitchen to grab a bottle to heat up and give to him.

When Harry reached the kitchen, there was already a lamp lit up. _Who else would be up this time of night?_ he asked himself. He walks in and immediately sees the curtain of red hair falling off of her petite figure. Her back was facing him as she put a kettle on the stove for tea. Ginny. Of course it was her that he would have to see in the dead of night. He couldn't stand it and he had been trying to avoid her since she would never take him back and he would never be able to even be in the same room as her because it would always hurt that they couldn't be together.

She turned around and saw him standing there with Teddy in his arms. He looked so good that she would just melt, but she managed to keep the smile off her face at seeing him with no shirt on. He never wore a shirt to sleep. It was one of the many little things she knew about him. He never cleans his wand with more than his shirt, he never slept with a shirt on, and he always had his wand within a seconds reach, even in the shower. She had once accidentally walked into the bathroom when he had forgotten to lock the door. Luckily she hadn't looked down and he hadn't noticed her come in. A faint blush spread across her cheeks.

"Hi Harry. There are bottles in there," she pointed to a cupboard and he reached past her, brushing her arm and send jolts of electricity through her skin. She couldn't stand it any longer. She had to know if he still felt the same or if he hated her. "Harry, why have you been avoiding me recently?" she asked blunty.

"Erm, have I been avoiding you, it wasn't on purpose..." he trailed of, seeing the look on her face and started to feed Teddy the bottle. As Teddy's mouth began the work of getting milk from his bottle, Harry meet Ginny's eyes. She could always see right through him and could tell that she knew he was lying. "I-I-idithinyulikmeanmo," he rushes out in one short breath.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ginny asks trying to hide a smile.

"I didn't think you liked me any more," he said slowly and quietly, looking away from her.

"Wait, what? You didn't think that I liked you anymore? You have this whole thing reversed mister, although now that I think about you do have good reason to think that, but that doesn't make it true," her voice faded out at the end.

Harry just stood there, stock still, until what she had said sunk in. _He had gotten it wrong. He had gotten it wrong. Gotten what wrong? He had gotten the fact that she didn't like him anymore wrong!_

"I know you may not like me anymore, but that doesn't mean that I don't like you," Ginny was talking again. Harry stared at her lips thinking how much he wanted to kiss them and just make them shut up. Then he remembered the baby, who had just finished his bottle and was starting to fall asleep again.

"Wait here for just one second, while I put Teddy back to bed," he said hurriedly.

Ginny just stood there. He wanted to talk more. That was a start, wasn't it? She turned around to wait for him to come back. When he swept back into the room, now baby-less, and he swept her into his arms and kissed her right on the lips. He pushed her back against the wall as she melted in his arms. Their lips were moving together, like they had never split up to begin with.

Finally, Ginny gained the strength to break away for breath. "How, may I ask, did you learn to kiss like that, Mr. Potter?" Ginny asked breathily.

Harry just shrugged and asked "What does this mean for us then?"

Ginny just laughed, "With a move like that, I think that it's pretty obvious how we both feel. What do you say we give us another shot."

"I'd like that a lot, Ms. Weasley," Harry replied coolly, and gave her another long kiss. This time more gently, but it still had the urgency that the last kiss had had. "We have a lot of catching up to do," he mumbled against her lips.

"And we can do that tomorrow, or should I say later today," she grinned, looking at the clock. "Goodnight Harry," she gave another quick peck on the lips and turned around.

"Wait, Ginny," Harry said. "I love you."

She smiled, "I love you too," she whispered before going up the stairs.

Hermione entered Ginny's room and went to lie down on the camp bed right before Ginny came back from the kitchen. "How did it go?" she whispered to her once Ginny was back in her bed.

"It went great, really great," Ginny sighed. "What about you?" she said, a mischievous glint in her eye now.

"M-me," Hermione stuttered. "What do you mean."

"I mean that I know you sneak up to see Ron when you think I'm asleep and Harry's dealing with Teddy. I'm not an idiot, and I am a much better fake sleeper than Ron is," Ginny stated quietly.

"Urgh, there is no privacy in the house," Hermione moaned. "Fine I went up and we snogged for half an hour until I thought that you'd be coming back soon and I came back down here. Happy?"

"Yes, actually. Since you and Ron are snogging all the time, he can't complain so much about me and Harry," Ginny murmured before her eyes closed and she fell asleep. Hermione followed suit after a couple of minutes of remembering her few minutes with Ron.

* * *

_May 16th 1998_

_Ginny was walking through the corridors at Hogwarts when Harry came up beside her. He grabs her wrist and pulls her into a secret passage-way behind a tapestry. He pushes her up against a wall and crushes her lips with his. She automatically responds and opens her lips, deepening the kiss-_

A pillow hit her in the head. "Ginny, you were moaning something about Harry in your sleep," Hermione giggled, her voice strained from trying not to laugh. Ginny was facing into her pillow, her mouth open, a large drool spot starting to form.

"Er, right, yeah, just a dream," Ginny sighed, not content with her current reality. Why had Hermione had to wake her up. Between Teddy and Hermione, Ginny's erotic dreams of Harry would never get to where she wanted them to go. She knew, she wouldn't go nearly as far in real life as in her dreams, but Harry wouldn't either and they were both fine with that for now, especially since they hadn't actually told anybody they were back together, and-

Hermione cut off her thoughts, "I know just what you mean," she said with a big, silly grin on her face.

"Ew, Hermione that's my brother we're talking about," Ginny grimaced.

"He may be your brother, but he is also an excellent-"

"I don't want to know," Ginny said blocking her ears with her fingers.

"I was just going to say kisser, you know we haven't gone that far yet, although the other day-" Hermione grinned as Ginny started singing loudly to drown her out. "I was kidding!"

Ooomph. The pillow hit Hermione in the face as Ginny grabbed her stuff and raced for the shower before Hermione could recover.

On her way up to the next landing she ran into Harry coming out of the bathroom with only is boxers on. "Nice view," she said, hitting his butt with her towel, as she dashed into the bathroom, satisfied with seeing the blush start to creep across the back of his neck.

She took a quick shower, but luckily still hot, because she must have been the first one of the day. The flowery scent of her conditioner wafted around the bathroom as she performed a bit of underage magic (just a quick drying spell) on her hair, before towelling off and getting changing for the day.

She had been quickly put on her navy blue pleated skirt and a tight-ish lavender t-shirt before pulling her slippers back up and skipping back to her room. Once she got back to her room, she realised she was dressed the exact same way that she had been in her dream and felt a flush cross her face, but luckily it just looked like she had come out of a hot shower, which she had.

She put her things away and went downstairs to the breakfast table. Harry and Ron were already eating and showered, while Fred and George were just sitting down, still in their pajamas. Teddy was in Harry's lap, going through a warm bottle of milk. Percy and dad had probably already left for work. The whole family would be around the next day for Sunday brunch, and then just to hang out after. Ginny piled toast, bacon, and eggs onto her plate, and by the time she had finished eating Hermione had come down, fresh from the shower. She had taken Teddy from Harry, so he had gone outside to get some fresh air.

Ginny followed him outside. It was a bright and sunny morning and the birds were chirping in the air. She saw Harry standing a little ways a way and went over to him. She grabbed his hand and dragged him to a more sheltered, and private, copse of trees and wrapped her arms around his neck. "We still have some catching up to do," she breathed, before she pressed her lips against his.

His lips moved with hers. He pushed her against a tree and deepened the kiss, opening his mouth. Her tongue wound with his and her hands slid up into his hair, making it even messier than usual. One of his hands slip to the small of her back and the other into her hair, winding it around his fingers, until they heard a soft cough from behind them. "Sorry to interrupt the face-sucking, but what the hell are you doing to my sister?" Fred asked calmly from where he was standing. "I was coming out to try to find some people for a Quidditch match, but instead, I find my little sister and her _ex_-boyfriend out here snogging like maniacs."

"For one thing Fred, I think that I am an equal participant in this. Harry isn't forcing me into this. If he was, I'd hit him with a bat-bogey hex, so this wouldn't even have been happening. Another thing, next time you want information about my dating life, you don't have to follow me around, you can just ask." Ginny scolded.

Fred cracked a big grin, "But it's so much more fun to follow you, plus I get to cause Harry a little grief by acting all overprotective. That's more Ron's style than mine, mate, but I'm assuming that Ron knows about this?"

Harry nodded, a little bit sheepishly. "We only got back together a few days ago. We did want a little bit of privacy, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. Just go and tell George and eventually the whole family will know. Easier than making an announcement."

"Fred, if you give up a little more private time we can have a Quidditch game in an hour, after you get dressed," he was still wearing his pajamas, "and I change. See if Hermione will even play, that way we can have equal teams," Ginny suggested so that Fred would leave.

"Great idea, little sis', you two have good time," he winked and chuckled at the look on Harry's face before he turned around and walked back into the house.

"Now, where were we?" Ginny asked before pulling her mouth back up to Harry's. After a little bit more intense snogging, Ginny went back into the house to change into something better for Quidditch before she came back to meet him under the trees again. Now dressed in shorts and a looser t-shirt she found Harry's mouth with her own again and they picked up where they had left off.

After a few short minutes, she pulled away, laughing at the disappointed look on his face, "If we don't keep moving, we'll never get to play," she pointed out.

"All right," he said reluctantly following her to the clearing in the trees where the Weasleys practiced Quidditch.

It was almost one o'clock by the time the game had ended. Harry, Ginny and Hermione had beaten Ron, Fred, and George 360 to 210. They had been tied until Harry had caught the snitch, giving his team that 150 points. He would have caught it much sooner, but he had borrowed one of the Weasleys' older brooms witch was so slow that a two-year-old's toy broom could have beaten it in a race. Other than that it had been a really good game and everybody needed some lunch.

* * *

_June 14th 1998_

The last few weeks had been fun with all of the Quidditch, practical jokes, hanging around the Burrow, and, of course, some snogging time with Ginny. They had also been catching up on the things that had passed in the nine months that they had been separated. Harry had finally told Ginny about hunting the horcruxes and all the important things from the last battle that only he, Ron, and Hermione knew about. She, in turn had told him about Hogwarts in his absence. She told him about the Carrows and how Snape had been protecting them and about how Dumbledore's Army had been restarted and had been revolting against Voldemort's influence. They had both gone through hard-ship and had faced so much.

When the Weasley's had all found out about Harry and Ginny, Mrs. Weasley had hugged him, Mr. Weasley had shaken his hand, and the boys had mostly given Harry looks that said _if you hurt my sister, I will hurt you_.

It was now the middle of June and Ginny was coming down the stairs for breakfast. Her mother was standing by the stove making breakfast and said, "Ginny, dear, your Hogwarts letter is here. It feels thinner than usual though."

"That's strange, they usually come sometime in late July," Hermione's voice came from the bottom of the stairs. "I would expect that these are only papers asking about whether the students intend to come back this year or not."

As usual, Hermione was right. There was only one piece of parchment in the envelope asking about whether that student planned on returning to school that coming September. Ginny opened hers up to read it.

_Ms. Ginevra Molly Weasley,_  
_Hogwarts is currently going through the reconstruction process, but will be open in time for September First._

_We are also sending this to inquire whether you will be coming back to school for your seventh year. We know that because of traumatic events some students from last year's seventh grade class will be returning and that some younger students will not be returning to the school this year. Please include an answer by post owl no later than June Thirtieth._

_Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Ginny already knew that she would be going back. Her mother would never allow her to skip her last year of school and she knew that to get a job she would need her N.E.W.T.'s. She already knew that she wanted to play Quiddich professionally, but that would only last so long. She would have to be able to get another job after she wasn't able to play any longer. She also knew that Harry would be going back, and so would Hermione and she didn't want to be away from them for another year.

She went to the cup on the counter-top and grabbed a self-inking quill and a leaf of parchment from the small pile next to it. Ginny quickly scrawled out that she would be returning for her seventh year and sealed the envelope. She would wait until everyone else had written their replies before she sent hers back with Pig.

Harry and Ron came down the stairs and sat down at the table. She handed their letters to them. Harry slit his open and his eyebrows rose. "What did you say?" he asked, seeing the sealed parchment in her hand.

"I'm going back, of course," she replied. "Hermione and mum would kill me if I didn't, and besides, I need a fallback career just in case Quidditch doesn't work out," then she added in a whisper only he could hear, "Plus, I'll get to spend more time alone with you."

The hairs on the back of his neck raised in his anticipation of afternoons spent between just him and Ginny on the school grounds.

"I'm going back too. I really decided after the final battle. I know the auror department would accept me right away, but I just want to go through things the right way, you know?" he said.

"I knew you would say something like that. It's just so typical of you, but what about Teddy?" Ginny she asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about him, dear, Arthur and I can take care of him," Mrs. Weasley put in.

"I wouldn't want to put all of that pres-" Harry was cut off.

"It would be no problem dear, I do like having him around the house, anyway," Mrs. Weasley insisted. Harry, knowing that there would be no point in arguing, just nodded.

"Well, I for one, would feel guilty if I didn't finish my education," Hermione said in her most scholarly voice. "You'll be going back too, won't you Ron?" She gave him the death glare.

"Relax, 'Mione. I could never let it be just you, Harry, and Ginny could I? You'd be third wheel." She kept glaring. "Just kidding. Of course I'm coming back," he reassured her as her kissed her forehead. The line between her eyes smoothed out as she sighed.

"I knew you would, Ronald. I just wish you would try to act like it was for the good of your education, not just to spend time with your girlfriend," she said, faking sternness.

"Yes you do 'Mione, yes you do."

"Stop calling me 'Mione," she scolded.

"Of course, you Hermy-ness," Ron replied with a gleam in his eye. He loved it when she got riled up at him.

"Urgh, what are you, Grawp?" Hermione was getting frustrated now.

"Ron, maybe you should stop before she tears your head off. Just because you're calling her Hermy does not mean that you have the strength of a giant," Harry put in before a full argument broke out. He knew that when they argued now, instead of sitting on it for weeks, they would just have a full out snog in front of everybody. Harry didn't want to watch that if he didn't have to. "Just right your replies so we can send them off with Pig."

The three of them each took a moment to write Professor McGonagall the quick confirmation letter, tied it to Pig's leg and opened the window so he could fly out. They watched until he was just a tiny gray dot, fading into the distance.

* * *

_July 12th 1998_

When Harry went down to breakfast the next morning there were four identical lettlers waiting on the kitchen table.

"Harry, dear, your Hogwarts letter came this morning," Mrs. Weasley said, kissing his cheek.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley. We'll have to go to Diagon Alley sometime to get books and robes. I think mine are going to be a few inches short this year," Harry stated. He had grown a few more inches in the last year and was now six feet tall. Ron was still taller though, at six feet two inches.

"Yes, I think Ron will need some new robes too," Mrs. Weasley murmured, standing over the stove once again. Harry pulled out his supply list for that year. There were just a few more books he would have to get for his five subjects this year. He was taking transfiguration, potions, charms, herbology, and of course, defense against the dark arts. They were the subjects that he needed N.E.W.T.'s in to become an auror. There was also the usual sheet of parchment telling him to go to platform 9 3/4 on September First at 11 o'clock. It also told him that he would be Quidditch Captain again that coming year. He had expected that of course, so it didn't come as a big surprise.

Hermione was the next person to come down the stairs. Harry handed her her own letter and she opened it and scanned through the supply list. He could tell that it was a good bit longer than his. "I'm taking seven subjects again this year," she told Harry, seeing the questioning look on his face, "the same five as you, plus arithmency and ancient runes. Ron's only taking the same five that you are, though."

Right as she pointed this out, Ron and Ginny came down the stairs. "Same five whats as Harry?" Ginny asked. Then, seeing the letters Harry and Hermione both had, went down to grab her own letter. She took out her list. "Six subjects this year. The usual five, plus ancient runes," she commented on her book list.

Hermione had taken something else out of her envelope and only Ron had noticed. "Hermione, is that what I think it is?" he breathed the question. "Hermione, you're head girl."

"You can't honestly be surprised by that. There's nobody better," Ginny pointed out.

"But, I thought, after last year..." she trailed off.

"After you helped to defeat Voldemort last year that you wouldn't be deserving?" Harry snorted. "I'd better go get Teddy up, he'll need to eat before too long," he said, and left the room.

"Good idea, Harry. We should plan on going to Diagon Alley the first week of August, then. And speaking of that time, what do you want to do for your birthday, dear?"

"Just a dinner Mrs. Weasley, I don't want it to be any trouble for you," Harry said quickly.

"Oh, it's never any trouble, dear. I'll invite Kingsley and Hagrid. Maybe Neville and Luna too. Would that be alright?" she queried.

"That sounds great," Harry smiled at her before going upstairs again to get Teddy ready for the day.

* * *

Enjoy? Yes, no? Please review. Remember all, five people, five reviews, another chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Here ya go. I'm being nice and posting before I get the five reviews I wanted. I'm not going to bother asking for reviews anymore, but I probably won't post more often than once a week.

This is the longest chapter yet, so enjoy it. It took some time to go through and edit and format this though, not to mention writing it. I've got one more chapter completely written, but it isn't edited yet, so keep on reading, my beloved fans, and I will be inspired to keep on writing. I hope you enjoy. This chapter gets much more romancy (romantic?) by the way, so if you like that, you should be sucked right in. Thanks for reading.

~Robin

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. That is the extent of it. I own my plot, but that's the extent of my ownership. Our best and brightest J.K. Rowling owns the rest.

_

* * *

Chapter 3_

_July 31st 1998_

Harry woke up and looked over at the clock. Seven-oh-three. He was still, after all of these years, an early riser. He sat up and smiled. It was his eighteenth birthday. He was amazed he had lived until seventeen, let alone eighteen, but now that Voldemort was gone, he could have a long life ahead of him.

Once he had dressed he went downstairs to the breakfast table. Mr. Weasley and Percy were finishing their breakfast, and Mrs. Weasley was making more sausages and eggs for everyone else. When she saw Harry come down she swept him up in a hug, "Happy birthday, dear. Eighteen already. I remember when you were just that little eleven-year-old trying to get onto the platform," she smiled. "The one on top is from us dear," she said, pointing to a pile of presents on the table.

He grinned and sat down in front of it. It was the usual batch of homemade cakes and pies along with a small arrow with his name and face on it. "What's this?" he asked.

"It's a hand for our clock, Harry. Here, let me add it," Mr. Weasley said quietly as he took the hand from Harry and fastened it onto the clock.

There was a small prickling behind Harry's eyes. "Thank you Mr. Weasley," Harry mumbled

"Now, Harry. I think you've known us long enough to drop the Mr. and Mrs. now, haven't you," Mr. Weasley smiled at him.

"I suppose so, Arthur," Harry said, reveling at how it felt not to call them Mr and Mrs. It had always seemed so formal.

"At-a-boy," he said, clapping Harry on the back.

Ron walked down the stairs and added his present to the top of Harry's pile of presents. Harry picked it up and ripped it open. It was a book. That was strange. Second year in a row he had gotten a book from Ron. He looked up and raised his eyebrows. Ron shrugged. "There's some useful stuff in there, mate," he grinned at Harry. "Hermione thought you might like to know some normal spells, after all that fighting the dark arts."

"Thanks Ron," Harry grinned back after seeing some hexes written in-between the household spells. There were some silly ones and some that seemed cruel, but the household ones actually looked like they would be useful once he moved into his own house, whenever that might be.

He went through the rest of the presents. He got a new, and much better than even the one Hermione had gotten him the year before, sneakoscope from Bill and Fleur. He had gotten a book on dragons from Charlie along with a second copy to give to Hagrid, 'just in case'. The twins had gotten him a box of soon-to-be-released products from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Hermione had, as usual, gotten him a book. It was similar to Ron's, but without all of the hexes. He knew the book would still get some use though. He then realized that Ginny hadn't gotten him anything, until he saw a little note on the tablewhere all the presents had been sitting. That was when Hermione came down the stairs. "Just read the note and follow the instructions. Oh, and happy birthday Harry," she smiled and kissed his cheek.

Harry opened the note. _Go up to where your seventeenth was, and you'll get the best surprise,_ it said in Ginny's handwriting.

Harry walked up the stairs to Ginny's room, expecting to see her waiting there, but was surprised by a gorgeous little snowy owl. It had another note tied to her leg. I said, _thought your presents were a little on the scant side so far, didn't you? Well, here's one we all went in on. Her name's Jeanette, take good care of her. Now, come meet me out where we were surprised and where the secret was teased out of us._ Harry grinned. He knew exactly where she was talking about. The place where Fred had surprised them when they were snogging. It was how the whole family had found out. He let Jeanette out of Ginny's bedroom window and she flew up, probably to Ron's room, where she would stay during the day until school started. There was probably a cage up there waiting for her already.

As Harry went back down the stairs to the kitchen Hermione smiled, "Isn't she beautiful."

"Yes, she is," Harry said as he walked out the door to the small copse of trees, "but I know someone more beautiful," he murmured to himself as he saw Ginny standing next to what he thought of as their tree. She was wearing a skirt and a low-cut blouse. He remembered some of his dreams of her and blushed, but in the shadows of the trees she didn't notice. She walked over to him and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Happy birthday Harry," she said, an impish smile on her face. Well, she was asking for it. He leaned for and crushed his lips against hers, before quickly removing them again.

He could see that wasn't what she had expected at all. She shook her head at him and grinned. "Is that the best you can do, Potter?" she teased, before crushing her lips against his once more. This time neither of them pulled away except to breath and even then they got right back into it. Harry pressed Ginny against their tree and they snogged intently. Harry's lungs were burning from the lack of oxygen, but he didn't care. Ginny's hands were on his stomach, leaving heat behind where she touched as he moaned against her lips. Soon they were panting and Ginny pulled away to breath. Harry reached out and brushed her lips with his finger. They were swollen and her hair was disheveled, but she was grinning up at him. "That, Harry Potter, is _the_ best kiss that I have ever had."

Harry couldn't yet speak yet, so he just nodded, agreeing. He finally managed to get out, "If that had been my 'remember me' kiss last year, I don't think I ever could have left you behind."

"I'll remember that next time you have to run off to save the world," she said playfully, "but my brothers may be wondering what's taking so long, so we might have to go back inside," she said.  
Harry shrugged. He had known they couldn't just stay out all morning.

"Maybe you can come to my room later tonight and-"

Harry interrupted her, "Ginevra Molly Weasley, you aren't suggesting that we..." he trailed of. A blush had started to cross her face.

"What no, of course not, unless you want-"

He silenced her with his lips and she calmed, "No, we're not ready. We can't rush through our relationship like that. Besides, we need something to look forward to in the future," he said to her.

She laughed, "Good, we may have to find more time to do some of this again later though. It was rather enjoyable."

"Only rather enjoyable, what happened to 'best kiss of my life'," he said.

"I didn't say that, well not in those exact words," she admitted as they turned back toward the Burrow.

When they came back into the kitchen everyone else was sitting at the table finishing breakfast. "Harry, Ginny, nice of you to join us. We were afraid we'd have to send out a search party soon," George joked as they came back in. Ginny just rolled her eyes, as Ron glared at his best mate for doing who-knows-what with his little sister.

Harry just went over and sat next to Ron, looking very happy with himself, purely for joy of seeing Ron's ears turn more and more red. "What were you doing with my sister?" Ron growled menacingly.

"Nothing that you and Hermione haven't done," Harry shot back, not actually knowing what the other two had gotten up to recently. Although, when Ron's ears turned even brighter red he thought that they might have gone farther than he and Ginny had. "Alright then. Maybe you two have gone farther than we have then."

"Er, good then," Ron muttered, a blush settling over his face, now from embarrassment. He walked over to Hermione and whispered in her ear angrily. She just gave him a look that obviously said, _and why would I do _that_, _and then walked out of the room.

It was around noon when Harry heard a sturdy knock on the door of the Burrow. He stood up from the couch where he was sitting with Ginny to go answer it. His face broke out into a grin when he saw Kingsley standing outside the door. "Come in, we're having lunch in about an hour. Still waiting for Luna and Hagrid. Molly doesn't want to start eating until everyone gets here," Harry greeted him.

"Happy birthday Harry," Kingsley said in his deep gravely voice. "Good, there's something I need to talk to you about anyway."

"Nothing bad, I hope," Harry said, worriedly biting his lip.

"No, no, nothing like that," Kingsley reassured him. "It's actually about your Gringott's account and your inheritance from Sirius and you parents. You should have been informed when you turned seventeen, but there wasn't ever a chance."

Harry was really listening now, interested. He lead Kingsley to the sitting room, where Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny were talking quietly. Once they had all exchanged greetings Kingsley asked, "Would you like to talk in private, or can they all stay?"

"They can all stay," Harry said firmly.

"Alright. Harry, as you know you inherited everything that both your parents, and more recently, Sirius, owned." Harry nodded in confirmation. "Well, what was in your vault when you turned eleven, was not everything that your parents left you." At this, Harry raised his eyebrows, but allowed Kingsley to finish what he was saying. "They also left you the house where James grew up, located in Godric's Hollow. It still has furniture and many belongings in it. James couldn't bear to go back after his parents had died. Another two-million galleons, left in trust for you by your parents have also been added to your vault, along with some of you mother and grandmother's jewelry and personal belongings that were saved from the wreckage of your parents' home."  
Kingsley was finished. Harry sat there in shock. Two-million galleons and a furnished house. Wow. It was a lot to take in. Ginny nudged his side gently. "Th-thank you for telling me Kingsley," he finally managed to stammer out.

"Not a problem Harry," Kingsley said, obviously not surprised by his reaction. He had, in fact expected it to be worse.

There was another knock on the door and Harry snapped out of it. "I'll get it," he muttered, walking once again to the door. It was both Luna and Hagrid. Hagrid swept him up in a bone crunching hug.

"Happy birthday Harry," Luna said in her normal airy fashion. "Is Neville here?"

By this time Hagrid had released Harry and put him back on the ground. "Yeah, he is, why?," he asked, curious as to why she had asked about Neville.

She blushed faintly, "Oh, no reason," she said smoothly as she walked inside. Harry raised his eyebrows at her back. _Neville and Luna. He actually could imagine them getting together someday. They would be an interesting couple, that was for sure._

By the time everybody had settled in lunch was ready and Harry had opened the guests' presents and put them with the rest of his things.

Everyone talked over lunch. Neville and Luna were both going back to Hogwarts that coming year and told them that most of their respective years were going back. It was going to be a crowded year, that was for sure. By the time everyone had finished talking it was almost five in the afternoon and the guests all had to be on their way.

Everyone split into groups. The twins and Angelina, who Fred had starting dating after Hogwarts, went outside with Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione, along with Charlie to play a quick Quidditch match before supper time. By the time they went back inside it was dark and supper was ready. They quickly ate and split into respective groups. George had gone back to his and Fred's flat, while Fred had taken Angelina to hers.

Molly and Arthur had gone up to bed at around ten and it was just the two young couples left. Teddy had been put to sleep, and Charlie was staying with Bill and Fleur at Shell Cottage. The four of them talked for a while. Eventually Ron and Hermione left, probably to snog in Ron's room and Ginny pulled Harry up the stairs and into her bedroom.

She pulled his head down and crushed her lips onto his. "I've been waiting to be able to do this again all day," she murmured contentedly as she pressed her lips to his once more. Harry's lips started to work across her jaw and neck before she pulled his lips back to hers. They stood there a while longer, lips locked. His hands slid out of her hair and to the small of her back, pulling her closer to him. She pulled her hand from his neck and down to his stomach, pushing him backwards toward her bed.

"Ginny, we can't," Harry said, pulling away. He looked nervous.

"I don't want to do that," she purred, "-yet," she corrected herself, "It's just easier to reach your lips this way. You really are much too tall." It was true, she was only five feet, five inches. Harry was more than half a foot taller. She stopped all the thoughts in his head as she pressed her lips against his. He moaned, rolling so that he was on top of her, and he let his hands wander up and down her sides. It was her turn to moan as his touch left streaks of heat behind. She never wanted this to stop, but of course Hermione had to come in at just that moment. The door opened, and she stood in the doorway, frozen.

"Er, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" she asked, even though it was quite obvious that she was, "because, I could leave again if-"

"No, Hermione don't leave, Ron will want to make sure we don't get too long alone together anyway," Harry sighed. "Night, Gin, that was definitely my favorite present today," he said, leaving the room after pecking her on the cheek once more.

Ginny sighed, "You know, your timing is worse than Ron's sometimes," she complained to Hermione.

Hermione was sitting up strait, "You weren't planning on, you know," she trailed off.

"No, not now, and definitely not here! My parents are a floor above us, we'd never get away with it. Besides, I'm not ready anyway, even though I always seem so forward, I'm just not ready for that kind of thing yet," she shrugged. Hermione wouldn't meet her eyes as a blush started to creep across her face. Ginny was watching her carefully, "You haven't done-"

"Of course not," Hermione blurted out. "We've gotten close, you know, when we disappear for a while, but we haven't done _that_ yet. I think that if Ron wasn't so worried about _me _not being ready that we might have by now though." Her blush deepened.

"Ew, Hermione, TMI," Ginny groaned

Hermione giggled, "You'll enjoy it someday too, you know," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but we are talking about my brother," Ginny groaned.

"Fine. 'Night then," Hermione said, settling down. Ginny lay back down too. Her pillow smelled faintly of Harry and as she drifted off to sleep, she knew that she would find her dreams to be full of him too.

* * *

_August 3rd 1998_

Harry stood up from the breakfast table. "Ginny, you ready to go?" he asked. They were going to the Dursley's today. Harry had to find out what had happened at the safe house and he had to get the rest of his stuff, if they hadn't burned it, anyway.

"Yup, just let me grab my bag," she said as she stood up and ran up the stairs. She was back by his side in less than thirty seconds. "Remember, mum, we'll be back by three. After we get done in Surrey, we're going to go for some lunch," Ginny said as they walked out the door.

Since Ginny wasn't yet seventeen, Harry grabbed her arm and side-along-apparated her to his Aunt and uncle's back yard. He had gotten his official license the day before in preparation for this.

They walked quickly around to the front and rang the bell. Harry hoped that Dudley would be the one that answered the door, since they weren't expected. He wasn't sure what his aunt and uncle's reaction would be like if he showed up on their doorstep without warning. Harry was in luck that day as it was Dudley's face that appeared in the doorway. "Harry, what a surprise, come in. You're lucky mum and dad aren't home. They weren't exactly happy with being in that safe house for nine months," he joked. That was when he noticed Ginny standing slightly behind Harry. "Who's this?"

"Dudley, this is my girlfriend, Ginny. Ginny, this is my cousin Dudley," Harry said, telling Dudley with his expression that he had better keep his pudgy, well not so much anymore, fingers off his girlfriend. It was strange. Dudley seemed much fitter and was acting much more intelligent than usual. Being trapped somewhere for long periods of time must have had it's advantages.

"Don't worry Harry, she's all yours. I won't touch her," he said quickly, chuckling, seeing the look on Harry's face. "I have my own girlfriend now." He sounded almost smug. "She somehow, managed to get through the charms on the house we were in. I have no idea how, but she was the only person other than those two people protecting us and the three of us. We couldn't leave of course though," Dudley looked at his watch. "She was supposed to be coming in about an hour."

"We could come back another time-" Harry started to say. Ginny was still standing by Harry, being unusually quiet.

"No, its all right. I'll introduce you to her," Dudley waved Harry's offer away.

"If you insist," Harry said, wondering what kind of girl would date Dudley. Although now that he wasn't 90% fat he was much better looking. He sounded more urbane too. He must have been so bored in that house that he had read a book, or several.

"I do," Dudley looked sincere. "Do you want something to eat or drink?" he asked cordially.

Harry shook his head but Ginny spoke up for the first time, "Have any pum-er, orange juice?" she asked, remembering that Harry had told her muggles didn't drink pumpkin juice. That was crazy in her opinion, but she guessed that it would seem strange to the muggles that wizards drank pumpkin juice, so she went along with it anyway.

Dudley looked at her strangely, but went and got her a glass. When he came back in, he asked curiously, "Did you start to ask me for pumpkin juice?" He was sitting on the couch opposite from Harry and Ginny.

"Yeah," Ginny started to explain, "you see, in the Wizarding world, we drink pumpkin juice, not orange. I just realized that you weren't going to have any and would think that I was strange for asking for it."

Dudley laughed, "I'm used to strange things happening. I grew up with a young wizard in the house, didn't I?" That remark seemed to break the ice. Ginny laughed.

"Oh, you did. That must have been terribly difficult to get used to. I grew up with six," she countered.

"Wow, six brothers. Sounds fun," Dudley grinned.

"Well, it definitely toughens you up. They tend to be overprotective though, especially with your love life," she grumbled.

"They roughen you up a bit then Harry?" Dudley asked him.

"Well, since I'm the savior of the Wizarding world, they didn't have much of a reason to. I'm the best person their little sister could ever possibly end up with," Harry smirked.

"Forgot about that," Dudley muttered as the doorbell rang again. "I'd better get that. It's probably Vicky." He got up and walked quickly out of the room to get the door. They heard some muttered conversation and a quiet shriek.

When Dudley came back into the room, he had a tallish brunette pulled against his side. "Victoria, this is Harry, my cousin, and his girlfriend Ginny. Harry and Ginny, this is my girlfriend, Victoria Bell." Victoria was looking at Harry with a strange expression. It seemed like she was combing his forehead for something, but the only thing on his forehead was his scar, and she was a muggle. Then Harry put it together. She could get into the Dursley's house even though she was supposed to be a muggle and it was muggle-deflecting, she was looking for a something on his forehead, and Bell, he recognized that last name.

"Katie!" he blurted out suddenly. Ginny gasped next to him, drawing the same conclusion that he had. "Er, sorry, but do you happen to be related to someone named Katie Bell?" he asked, making up for his mistake. She looked an awful lot like her, in fact, he may have seen her at Hogwarts.

Her eyebrows rose and she answered quickly, "Yes, she's my cousin. She's three years ahead of me at Hog-I mean my school," she covered up, obviously, not seeing his scar since it had healed almost completely and was now barely visible, and thinking he wasn't Harry Potter.

Ginny had just figured out what was going on and burst out laughing. "Dudley," she managed to stutter out between laughs, "Your girlfriend is a-a witch."

Dudley just looked shocked as he sank into the couch. "I-I'm so sorry Dudley, but I couldn't tell you. It's supposed to be a secret. Wait, how did you know then, oh my goodness, you must actually be Harry Potter! When, I didn't see your scar I figured you weren't, but I guess that," she cut herself off. "I should have known though, I saw you a couple of times at Hogwarts, and my cousin talked about you a few times since you were both on the Quidditch team and-oh, I'm blabbering aren't I," she blushed.

"No, it's alright, but for the record, I am just a normal person. I may have defeated Voldemort, but that doesn't make me any different," he grinned, "and since Voldemort's gone, my scar has almost completely disappeared." He pulled his bangs up revealing the thin white line.

Dudley had recovered somewhat. "So, you, really are a-a witch then," he managed to say.

"Yes, Dudley, I am," she confirmed quietly. "If I had known that you knew about our world, then I would have of course told you, but we aren't supposed to tell, but you probably know about that and everything-" Dudley stopped her talking by kissing her firmly on the mouth. Harry just watched as Dudley pulled away.

"And if I had known you were a witch I would have told that I knew," he pulled her into a hug. "We should probably redo introductions then," he said. "Victoria Bell, these are Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley."

"Nice to meet you," the three of them said at once. They all laughed, even Dudley.

"Anyway Harry, what have you been up to lately?" Dudley asked.

"Not much. My birthday was a few days ago, and I've been playing lots of Quidditch. I'm the team captain again this year. I'm trying to learn how to take care of a baby too," he faded off seeing the looks on Dudley and Victoria's faces.

"Are-are you-I mean, I assume you're his girlfriend, are you..." Victoria was stammering badly.

"What-no! I mean, yes Ginny's my girlfriend, but no, she is not pregnant!" he burst out. Ginny was just sitting there, shocked at the question and at his outburst. "My godson. I'm taking care of my godson. His parents died in the Battle of Hogwarts."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I just assumed-"

"It's not a problem," Ginny cut in. The mood had suddenly turned colder.

"Well, Dud, we should probably be on our way. Is any of my stuff still left?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yeah, mum and dad didn't touch it. It should all still be in your old room," Dudley said. Harry and Ginny went up the stairs to his old bedroom. He waved his wand and packed it all into his trunk easily. He shrunk the trunk and Ginny put it in her bag.

"Good thing magic takes care of the weight of the trunk, isn't it?" she asked, giving him a peck on the cheek as they walked back down the stairs. Harry walked over to Dudley and Victoria, giving them each a quick hug.

"Dud, if you want to send me any mail, just send it to Ottery St. Catchpole and I can pick it up from the post there," Harry said as they were walking out the door. "Keep in touch, alright, and when you tell Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia about Victoria being a witch, keep out of the range of his fists," Harry said quickly. Dudley chuckled and closed the door behind them.

Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and they turned on the spot, going through that dark tube that was apparation, and appeared with a small pop back at the Burrow. They put Harry's stuff inside and then went back outside. It was only noon and they had told Molly that they'd be back at three so they had some time to kill.

"What do you want to do for three hours?" Harry asked Ginny.

"How about we go to out tree and partake in are usual time-wasting activity," she said with an impish smile.

"Sounds good to me," Harry said as she led him away.

* * *

_August 7th 1998_

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walking down Diagon Alley towards Gringott's. Compared to the last time they had been there it was full of activity. There were hoards of children running around with their parents, who were desperately attempting (and failing) to keep control of them. They were all back to get supplies for Hogwarts that coming year. There must have been a lot more students than usual that year too. All the first years of course, and all of the returning students, including those that should have graduated the year before, but had never taken their N.E.W.T.'s. There were also the muggle-borns who hadn't been able to go the year before. That _was_ a lot more students then before.

As the four weaved through the crowds, clasping hands to stay together, they goggled at the sheer amount of people. They quickly made their way down the alley to Gringott's bank and made their way inside. The two Weasleys and Harry made their way to one desk to go to their vaults, while Hermione exchanged some of her muggle money for wizarding coins. She did this every year before school started, and since the ministry had brought her parents back from Australia they had given her some money to exchange, as usual.

As Harry, Ginny, and Ron boarded the cart with a goblin and set off zooming into the underground darkness of the bank Ginny clutched Harry's arm. She had always hated these rides. She didn't understand how Harry could stand them, let alone enjoy them.

When the cart rambled to a stop Ginny jumped out like the cart was going to bite her. Harry chuckled, but she gave him a glare and he stopped.

"Mr. Potter, your key, please," the goblin requested. Harry handed it to him and the goblin opened his vault. Harry was taken aback by the sheer amount more stuff in his vault. It was obvious it had been expanded since the last time he had been. It was filled with more gold than Harry had ever seen along with several trunks of belongings. He walked over to one of the trunks. On top, was a large-ish box filled with expensive looking jewelry. He found his parents wedding and engagement rings. They were right on top. He heard the other two wandering around the vault. He quickly slipped the rings into his pocket along with a few things he thought Ginny might like. He did need to give her a birthday present after all.

He stood up and scooped a few handfuls of galleons into his moneybag and stuck it back in his pocket. The other two had finished looking around and were waiting for him by the entrance. "I'll look around more when I'm moving into my own house after Hogwarts," he told them.

They nodded and Ginny squeezed his hand reassuringly before climbing reluctantly back into the cart. As soon as she had climbed in and sat down, huddled to Harry's side, it once again shot off into the darkness. When they got out at the Weasley vault Ron handed the goblin the key. The goblin took it and quickly opened the vault. It had much more gold in it than the last time Harry had seen it. That was probably due to having only two children in school and Mr. Weasley's promotion. Ron scooped some out and handed half to Ginny, then closed the vault and walked back to the cart. Harry and Ginny followed and they got back in before shooting off back to the surface.

Hermione was waiting when they got back and they all walked back out into the August sunshine.

As they walked back down the alley to Madame Malkin's robe shop. They all needed new robes that year, as Ginny's had all been ripped from the Carrows' torture and the other three hadn't gotten new ones for two years. Hermione's were wearing through, and Harry and Ron had grown out of them again.

They all entered the shop and quickly bought their robes. After an incident with Malfoy and his mother two years previously she didn't exactly welcome them into her shop. They then walked quickly to Flourish and Blotts for their books. They each had at least five books, so they were considerably weighed down afterwards even with their money bags much lighter. After quickly restocking on potion supplies, quills, parchment, and ink they went to Fred and George's shop. It was probably the most crowded shop in the alley and was completely filled with students and their parents. The foursome made their way to the front to talk to the twins. It turned out that Fred and Angelina were working the front room with Verity, one of the other employees and that George, and Katie, who had recently began working at the shop were in the back room with Lee.

They made their way slowly through the crowds to the back room. When they got back their, into the darker, and less crowded room, the only staff-person in magenta robes there was Lee. "Hey, Lee!" Harry said. "Where're George and Katie? Fred told us they'd be back here."

"They went up to the flat to get some more Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder," Lee told him. "Where'd the girls get to?"

Harry and Ron turned around. Hermione and Ginny were gone. They must have been sidetracked by some of the products in the shop. "Dunno," Ron said, shrugging. "We'll find them on our way out. Thanks Lee. Off to find George now."

Harry and Ron walked to the stairs up to the flat in the back of the room. The entry was charmed so that only family and certain other people could get into the flat. They walked up the stairs quickly and opened the door at the top. The site that met their eyes was completely unexpected. Katie and George were lying on the couch, with their tongues down each-other's throats, snogging heatedly. "Well then Harry. We sure found them, didn't we?" Ron snorted loudly.

Katie untangled herself from George, blushing furiously. George pulled her back and kissed her forehead. "Yes, you certainly found us out little bro'. We were going to tell the family at Ginny's birthday anyway," George replied calmly.

Katie was glaring now. Her hair was in disarray and she was obviously angry about being interrupted. "Now, if you'd like to go and find your own girlfriends you can do some snogging of your own, instead of just watching," she scolded, giving them the death glare.

"Fine, we'll just be on our way," Harry chuckled. As they walked back down the stairs, Harry explained his chuckling to Ron. "That's exactly how Fred found out about me and Ginny."

Ron blanched, "With your tongues down eachother's thro-"

"Ron, I'm still pretty sure that's nothing compared with you and Hermione," Harry reminded him.

Ron blushed and mumbled something under his breath so that Harry couldn't hear. The girls appeared out of nowhere. "Guess what we just saw," Ron said, quickly explaining how they had seen Katie and George snogging.

"You saw my twin and employee doing what now?" Fred asked from behind them.

"You didn't know Fred?" Angelina asked coming up behind him. "I've known for two weeks. I thought George told you everything. Katie had been going over to your flat whenever you came to ours. I guess at one point he asked her out and they've been going out since," Angelina told the story quickly. "Now we're needed at the front desk, Fred," she said kissing his cheek and dragging him away.

"Now everyone's coupled up except Charlie, the poor guy," Ginny said morosely.

"Everyone? Didn't Percy and Penelope break up?" Ron asked.

"Yes, but she took him back after the Battle of Hogwarts when she found out that he had rejoined our side again," Hermione explained. "I don't think Charlie minds being single right now anyway, Ginny."

"True, he loves his dragons more than he could love a person," Ginny replied.

They were back onto the main alley by now, but it was only two, and they didn't have to be back at the Burrow until five, so the two couples split up for some alone time.

By the time they reunited, it was four thirty and they had to head back to The Leaky Caldron to apparate back to the Burrow again. Hermione transported all their stuff and then Ginny grabbed Harry's hand, since she wouldn't be seventeen for four more days and they all spun on their heels and appeared back in the yard of the Burrow.

* * *

_August 11th 1998_

Ginny woke up on the day of her seventeenth to an owl knocking on her window. She let the owl in before realising that it was Jeanette. She tore the note off her leg and unfolded it. _Ron and Hermione went out for an early morning stroll and your parents are both out, but your mum left breakfast for you and your presents are on the table. She took Teddy out for the morning. We're having a party this afternoon. We have the whole morning to ourselves though..._ was written in Harry's scrawled handwriting. Ginny grinned, she knew what that meant. Snogging galore. Her stomach grumbled, but first, she needed breakfast.

Harry was already waiting by the time she had showered, dressed, and come down to the kitchen. He doled her out a plate of food before getting himself one and they sat down at the table. After she had eaten her food she looked at the large pile of presents in front of her. She didn't want to waste her alone time with Harry opening presents, so she sent them back up to her bedroom. "Let's go," she said to Harry, dragging him outside into the mid-morning light. She brought him right to their spot in the copse of trees and said "We should really build a tree house here, much more comfortable place to snog, than just pushed against the tree," before she pushed him against the tree and crushed her lips against his.

She didn't know how long they had snogged before he pulled away to breath. "Ginny, how do you do that?" he asked her breathlessly.

"Do what?" she asked devilishly, "This?" she asked again, before pressing his lips with hers firmly and opening her mouth. Her hand trailed down and under his shirt, trailing her hands along his stomach and to his chest.

"Ginny," he moaned quietly, "We can't."

She pressed her lips against his again before removing them. "And why not?" she asked. She had known for a while, that he was the only one that she would ever want. She wanted to be his forever.

"I-I can't do that. Not yet. It's too soon. We've only really dated a total of less than five months. I can't afford to have somebody in your family find out. They might never accept me the same way." Harry was trying to explain how he felt, but the words didn't sound right.

"This isn't about my family," Ginny scowled. "This is about us, but if you really aren't ready, then we don't have to," she smiled at him. "We can still do this though, right?" she grinned slyly as she once again pressed her lips against his.

He moaned as he turned her around to press her against the tree. His hands were traveling up and down her sides until she guided them to the hem of her shirt. He looked worriedly at her, "I trust you," she said. He relaxed and let himself go, reveling in the feel of Ginny's stomach under his hands. Her hands slid up and under his shirt and he moaned again. The sun had risen higher in the sky and they soon had to go in, but he never wanted to leave. He had something else he had to give her though.

"Ginny, we have to go in soon," he said.

"I don't care," she mumbled bringing his lips down to hers again.

"Do you want your birthday present?" he asked, knowing exactly how to get her attention.

She perked up and gave him an expectant stare. He reached his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out a little brown package.

She opened it quickly, discarding the paper. It was a thin sliver chain with small emeralds embedded into it. She threw her arms around him once more, kissing his face everywhere. "I love it Harry," she murmured.

"I thought you would," he chuckled. "It was my mother's and we really do have to go back now. Your mum'll be home soon." He grabbed her hand and fastened the bracelet around her wrist. She gave him one more short, but passionate kiss as a thank you before he started pulling her back to the Burrow.

By three that afternoon, the whole family had arrived at the Burrow. Charlie had even come from Romania. It was his last chance to see everybody before school started again. Ginny had opened all the presents and thanked everybody profusely. She had gotten books, a broomstick servicing kit, and a witch's watch from her parents. It was now on her wrist, opposite Harry's mother's bracelet. It was small and gold. It was new too. She had given her parents big hugs after opening it.

Fred and George had brought their respective girlfriends, and Katie and Angelina had dragged Alicia with them. She had, apparently just been through a bad break-up and needed to get out and have some fun. Ginny didn't mind. The more, the merrier in her opinion. Charlie had been eyeing her anyway, and Ginny couldn't help but grin at the look on his face when she had walked in behind Katie. It had been priceless. Even if he didn't know he was in love, Ginny sure did. Turns out she was wrong about him not loving anyone except for his dragons. Harry had noticed too, and they had been sharing sneaking looks all evening. If Alicia hadn't been so depressed, than Ginny could almost have thought she was interested in Charlie too. She would at least smile and talk back to him when he joked with her.

There was a wonderful supper, courtesy of Molly, and they all ate with gusto, even Alicia, who apparently hadn't been eating enough lately. After they had sat around eating for a while, Molly and Arthur went up to their bedroom. They had decided that the 'young people' should get some time to themselves. Percy and Penelope had left much earlier.

They all sat around talking for a while longer before Bill and Fleur went back to Shell Cottage. Charlie was staying with them, but decided to hang around a while longer, probably because Alicia was.

That was when Fred and George unleashed their surprise for the night. "Now that all the responsible ones are gone," Fred started.

"We will bring out our special item for our little sister's coming-of-age," George continued.

Fred pulled a bottle of firewhiskey out of his robes. "She can drink legally now, after all, mum and dad just probably wouldn't like this." He pulled out his wand, making ten shot-glasses appear. Another flick of his wand sent them out, one to each of the people still in the sitting room. "To Ginny, the last of us to come of age, allowing us to be allowed to drink at home," Fred said, raising his glass in a toast. They all drank.

The warmth spread through Ginny quickly. Fred refilled everyone's glasses. Ginny drank again. She was starting to feel a slight tingling feeling in her fingers and toes, and giggled at the sensation. George muttered something quietly to Fred, causing him to grin. They gave Ginny another drink, as everybody else (who had all drunk before) had theirs. It was Ginny's first time, so she was going downhill fast.

Ginny was leaning back against Harry on the couch. He kissed the top of her head, his lips sending a shock through her body that had nothing to do with the alcohol, but may have been amplified by it. She turned around and kissed him before dragging him out of the Burrow and to their copse of trees. She grabbed her wand and transfigured a fallen tree on the ground into a couch.

Harry had finally realized, through his buzzed stage, what she wanted to do. He pulled away quickly. "No," he said. He was gentle, but at the same time firm.

"Come on, Harry," Ginny purred, sitting down. She may have been pretty drunk, but she knew what she was trying to do. She pulled him down with her and crushed her lips to his. He moaned and kissed her back quickly, but pulled away again.

"Not yet," he groaned, as she kissed him again. "We can't yet, and when we do, it has to be special, not when we're both slightly drunk. We're not ready"

He, as usual, won out. Besides, she had fallen asleep. He picked her up, turned the couch back into a log, and carried her back to the Burrow. When he got back inside, everybody was considerably more drunk, and Hermione and Ron had gone up to Ron's room in the attic.

Fred was getting ready to take Angelina home, and Katie and George had left right after Harry had brought Ginny back into the kitchen. Only Charlie and Alicia were left in the sitting room. Harry had put Ginny in her room and then gone to make himself some tea.

He could hear Alicia and Charlie talking quietly. He could only just make out what they were saying.

"He-he said, he said that he would always have more interest in Quidditch than in love, that it wasn't me," she was crying quietly into Charlie's t-shirt now.

"He didn't know what he was talking about," Charlie murmured to her. "Who would love Quidditch, more than they would love you."

Alicia looked up at him, eyes still shining with tears, "Do you really mean that?" she asked him, hope written across her face.

"Of course," he murmured pulling her against him.

"Prove it," she said, before kissing him full on the lips. He responded with gusto at first, but then pulled away.

"Don't," he groaned quietly. "I-I don't know how I could have even thought about starting this. I leave for Romania again in two days. I can't do that to you."

"I can handle long term separation," she said quickly, "As long as I know that you love me, I'll be fine. Until then, I think we have a lot of goodbyes to say though," she said before kissing him again.

Harry grinned as Charlie said, "Not here. We'll go to your place, but not here." He pulled her out of the room and through the dark kitchen, not noticing Harry sitting at the table, drinking his tea quietly. Before the door was closed, Charlie had kissed Alicia again, before turning with her, and apparating away.

* * *

_August 31st 1998_

"Please, Harry," Ginny begged him, sticking her lip out into a pout. "I'll love you forever."

Harry chuckled, "I know, but I don't have to learn to swim for that to happen," he pointed out. She just looked at him. "Fine, if that's really what you want to do our last day before school starts again," he finally gave in. She had been badgering him about it for over a week.

Ginny jumped out of her chair at the table and pulled him up, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Trust me, I do," she said, a mischievous glint in her eye. "You go get Ron and Hermione. They can come too. And get your trunks, I'll go get my suit and meet you down by the pond." She whisked up the stairs and into her room.

Once the door was closed she grinned. It was part of her master plan for Harry. She did own a bikini after all. She grinned again, quickly slipping it on under her clothes. She was extremely lucky her mother didn't think that she would ever wear this. It wasn't as scanty as some of the ones she had seen in muggle clothing stores, but Harry would certainly enjoy himself. She couldn't believe that just two months ago, she had told Hermione she wasn't ready yet. She may not have been lying then, but if she said the same thing now she would be.

She pulled her hair into a quick ponytail, grabbed a towl and went out to the pond.

They pond at the Burrow was small, but it had a sandy bottom and got pretty deep. It was shallow at the edges though. She sat on a small dock that went a dozen-or-so feet out into the water and waited for the other three to show up. After only a couple of minutes she heard somebody, probably Ron, stomping through the grass. A set of arms wound around her and lifted her to her feet, kissing the back of her neck. She sighed and turned around. "Don't try to delay, Mr. You are getting into that water and learning to swim if I have to push you in myself," she scolded Harry.

He was wearing only his trunks and his muscles stood out against his skin. Ron had also stripped down to his trunks, but Hermione was still wearing her shorts and t-shirt, like Ginny. They grinned at each other. The boys had no idea what they were in for. They had gotten their bikinis together the weekend before and had been waiting for a while to try them out on their boyfriends.

"Alright, fine," Harry said, taking Ginny's towel from her. "but I don't see your bathing suit." He raised his eyebrows at her.

"That would be because, I, unlike you, decided not to wear _only_ my bathing suit on the walk down here," she said. "I'm wearing it under my clothes," she finished, seeing that he still looked confused.

"Oh, right," Harry blushed.

She started to push her shorts down and peeled her shirt off, very satisfied with the heavy blush creeping across his face.

"Ginny," he groaned, "You are going to kill me, but I can see why you didn't want to walk down in that."

"Hey, that's my sister your oggling, mate!" Ron yelled at him.

"Turn around, and I won't be the only one oggling," Harry replied coolly. Ron turned to see that Hermione had peeled off her outer clothes and was now wearing her bikini too. Ron looked speechless and Hermione blushed.

"Shall we go in the water then," Ginny's voice cut through the silence. That snapped the two boys out of it as they all walked into the water. It was cool and refreshing, but still warm enough to stay in all day. Ginny closed her mouth, held her nose, and dipped her head quickly underneath the glassy surface, before bursting back out, her long hair streaming water from the end of its ponytail.

Harry was only in up to his waist and was staring at her again, eyes moving up and down her frame. Ron and Hermione were already frolicking in the shallows, splashing each other, so she grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him farther in. He looked a little bit nervous now.

"It's not that bad, you know," she stated.

"That wasn't the problem. The problem is whether I can control myself while you have on those clothes, or lack-there-of," he said.

She grinned. "You don't have to control yourself you know," she said to him. "I knew what I was getting into when I got together with you, and I wouldn't have dated you so long if I didn't love you, Harry," she said it solemnly.

"I know, I love you too," he said gravely, "I just don't want it to move too fast," he admitted.

"I'll tell you if I think it's too fast, Harry. Just worry about what you want from me, because I'm ready for anything," she said fiercely. She kissed him and he moaned. "But, for now, we should be getting to your swimming lessons."

Harry swore under his breath, he was hoping she had forgotten about those. "Fine," he grumbled to her. They swam for the rest of the morning before going back in for lunch. Molly had been taking care of Teddy recently because she would have to for most of the school year, but Harry had to spend some time with him before he went back to Hogwarts, plus, he still had to pack. He would get a lecture from both Molly and Hermione if he saved his packing for the last minute.

* * *

Read and review. I'll have more up within two weeks (hopefully). Hope you enjoyed.


	4. Chapter 4

Voila! Chapter four. It's a little shorter than the last one, but that one was unusually long...

I'm sorry that it's been forever since my last update, but school took over my life. Urgh. Don't you hate it when that happens? Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

~Robin

Disclaimer: Belongs to J.K.R. Not to me.

_

* * *

Chapter 4_

_September 1st 1998_

The morning of September first went by much more smoothly than usual because there were only four of them returning that year, and they could go around getting to the station the normal way. They all woke up on time, got Teddy up, ate breakfast, packed all their last minute things and were ready by ten thirty. They were _ahead_ of schedule. It was too strange for Harry to imagine. They sent their luggage to the platform ahead of them and then apparated to the platform. Molly and Arthur followed behind them since they were seeing them off. Harry brought Teddy with them. Nobody would be at home that morning anyway, so there was really no other option.

Once they had stowed all of their trunks and animals on the train they went back for final hugs and kisses goodbye. Everybody was hugged and fussed over by Molly, and Arthur shook the boys hands, but gave Hermione and Ginny hugs. "Be good everyone. Just because Voldemort is gone doesn't mean that you can't get in trouble," he warned them with good humor.

"We will," the four of them chorused. They actually were going to try to obey the rules this year. Nobody's lives would be in danger, so Harry shouldn't have had any reasons to break the rules anyway.

Harry led the others onto the train. It was starting to fill up and it was good that they had gotten their carriage early on. Ron and Hermione had to go to the prefects carriage, so it was just Harry and Ginny for a while.

She was sitting between his legs across one row of seats, leaning her head against his chest. "It feels strange to be going back for just an ordinary year," she said quietly.

Harry kissed the top of her head. "I don't think it'll be that ordinary," he replied. "We'll have new teachers, a new headmistress, it's our N.E.W.T. year, and," he paused, "we're together."

She turned around to face him. "That may have been one of the sweetest things you have ever said to me," she said, kissing him gently before pulling back again.

He smiled at her before saying, "That's because its true," and pulling her back to her original position. She sighed and relaxed against him.

The compartment door opened and Neville came in, followed by Luna. He lifted his trunk into one of the overhead racks and then did the same with hers. "Thank you Neville, but I could have levitated it, you know," Luna smiled faintly at him. "Hello Ginny, Harry," she greeted them.

"Hello Luna, have a good summer?" Harry asked, turning to the compartment again and pulling Ginny against his side.

"Oh, pretty good," she said, before pulling out a copy of the Quibbler and starting to read it. Harry and Ginny talked to Neville until Ron came back from the prefect's carriage.

"She has to finish giving instructions to the prefects," Ron said before they had even asked where Hermione was. "She's going to be so busy this year, we won't have any time to ourselves," he grumbled.

"Yeah, you really need a lot of that. You're fine with snogging her in public," Harry pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, Ron. Remember Lavender?" Ginny asked.

"Lavender what?" Hermione said, looking from Ginny to Ron as she came into the compartment.

"Just that he's perfectly fine with publicly snogging," Ginny grinned.

"Oh, alright then," Hermione said. She sat down and curled into Ron's side. Ginny rolled her eyes at them. "You and Harry are in the exact same position as us," Hermione pointed out. It was true, the two couples were like mirror images of each other.

Neville had watched the whole display, with glances to Luna every now and then. It was obvious to Harry that Neville liked her, but he hadn't talked to the others about it yet.

The rest of the train ride passed by quickly. After getting food from the trolley they changed quickly into their robes. It was starting to get darker outside and the land was becoming more forested and mountainous, like the grounds at Hogwarts.

By the time they reached Hogsmeade station, it was almost completely dark outside. Everyone stumbled out onto the platform. It seemed much more crowded than usual though. It seemed that many people that would have graduated the year before had returned to get their N.E.W.T.'s, and that many of the first years from the year before who were muggle-borns were starting that year. It was going to be a full year for Hogwarts.

The six of them made their way to one of the carriages quickly. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione gasped when they approached. It was the first time they could see the thestrals. Many other students were having the same reaction. Neville, Luna, and Harry pulled the other three into one of the carriages before they all got full. "You'll get used to it," Neville said glumly to them. "It's just one of those things that'll happen after you go to war."

Everybody was quiet for the ride up to the castle, but once they were out of the carriages it was time for everybody to gasp in shock. The last time they had seen the castle, it had been half-destroyed from spells and giants, but now it was restored to its full glory. It was exactly what it had been like before the battle, except for the memorial near the lake, of course. "It's home," Harry breathed before taking charge and leading the way inside.

As he lead the way into the great hall, he was glad they had gotten one of the first carriages. The few people who had already gotten there were staring avidly at him, and he was extremely happy that there weren't more people there to gawk. Luna went to sit at the Ravenclaw table while the others all found seats in the middle of the Gryffindor table. The tables filled up quickly and Professor Flitwick was soon marching between the house tables, carrying the sorting hat and stool, followed by a long line of first years (most of whom were taller than him).

Once he had reached the staff table he placed the sorting hat on the stool and stepped back, waiting for the hat to begin its annual song.

_What happened just fours months ago_

_Was really quite divine._

_We came together to defeat_

_The dark lord of our time._

_So let us hear the Gryffindors_

_Who always are the brave_

_Together with the Ravenclaws_

_Who do learn and behave._

_The Hufflepuffs, they joined in too!_

_Their trust and loyalty,_

_Came together with the Slytherins,_

_Who's cunning we all see._

_Do you now see that I was right?_

_We really have to bond._

_It's only right, that when we fight,_

_We must come together strong._

_With Gryffindor we fight the war,_

_With Ravenclaw we plan,_

_With Hufflepuff we all stay true,_

_With Slytherin we can,_

_Beat them all, we are the best,_

_The houses joined and new._

_We are the ones, we are the all,_

_The brave, smart, wit, and true._

Everybody clapped for the sorting hat. It must have wanted to keep playing on its songs the few previous years about standing together as houses to go through that dark time. It might have to come up with a new concept the next year.

After the applause faded away Professor Flitwick took out the roll of parchment with the names of all of the first years on it and began to call names. By the end of the sorting there were fourteen more Gryffindors, twenty-one more Ravenclaws, eighteen more Hufflepuffs, and thirteen more Slytherins. Harry knew that his year was unusually small, but that was a big group of first years. The poor Ravenclaws were in for some full dormitories this year, but he figured they could change size. They were magic after all. Maybe sometimes they even had to split into more than two rooms. The class sizes probably varied a lot depending on the number of young witches and wizards.

Professor McGonagall stood at the center of the staff table and called for attention. Everyone silenced themselves quickly and she began to speak. "This year, the school will be undergoing small repairs that were not finished over the summers. Rules here will not have changed just because Lord Voldemort is gone. The forbidden forest is still forbidden to all students and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products are still banned. For a full list of banned items you can see Mr. Filch," she nodded in his direction. "We also have some new staffing this year. Professor Shacklebolt will be taking the position of defense against the dark arts professor." Harry hadn't noticed Kingsley before then, but cheered with the rest of the students. Kingsley had been temporary minister of magic, but hadn't wanted to keep the post, so he must have accepted the job here.

After a minute or two the cheers died down and Professor McGonagall continued, "I will be continuing to teach transfiguration, and Professor Drawkley has been found to teach you all muggle studies." There was polite clapping for both of these and Professor Drawkley stood, before sitting back down again and turning to talk quietly to Hagrid. "For now, please enjoy the first feast of the our new era as Hogwarts, and quoting our previous headmaster 'Tuck in'," she smiled and sat down as everybody laughed.

Only Ron seemed to have missed the remark, being much too distracted by food appearing in large quantities and the process of scooping it only his plate as quickly as possible. His mouth was already full by the time Harry had started to serve himself food. Hermione was just shaking her head at him and he just shrugged. Ginny was trying not to laugh at his engorged cheeks. "He looks like a squirrel," she whispered to Harry, loudly enough for Ron to hear. Ron just gave her a look, but obviously decided that he would rather continue pursuing the food than the conversation.

Once everyone had finished with the main courses, they disappeared, and the pudding materialized on the tables. Harry helped himself to a hefty serving of his favorite treacle tart and listened to the talk babbling around him. After he had put the last bit of treacle tart into his mouth and pushed his fork away Professor McGonagall stood again. "Now, off to bed with you. You will need to be rested for your classes tomorrow," she said before the stream of talk flew over the hall again.

"The password's tickle me pink," Hermione told him and Ginny before pulling Ron over to help her escort the first years to Gryffindor tower. Harry chuckled and pulled Ginny out of the hall behind him.

With excellent use of Harry's knowledge of the castle they made it to the tower long before the first years, so they had time to share a terrific good night snog before they climbed up the stairs to their own dormitories. Once Harry reached his dormitory he said a quick hello to Seamus and Dean, who had gotten up there before him, pulled his pajamas on, and fell into bed. He was asleep within minutes and never even heard Neville and Ron come into the room. He always forgot how exhausting September first could be.

* * *

_September 2nd 1998_

_Beep, beep, beep, _the alarm sounded. Ginny groaned and sat up in bed, turning to the side to hit the off button on her alarm clock. It stopped, but before Ginny could fall back into bed, Lavendar had woken up too. She glared at Ginny before scolding her, "Don't even think about it. I am not having one of my roommates late on the first day of class!"

Ginny rolled her eyes, but grabbed her shower stuff and walked into the bathroom anyway. _Lucky Hermione, gets her own room because she's head girl,_ Ginny thought. She had been looking forward to sharing a room with Hermione that year. The only reason that she was sharing with Lavendar and Parvati was because they were all technically seventh years that year, so they all shared a dormitory. Demelza and the other girls in her year were also up there with them. There were six of them up there now, so maybe it was a good thing that Hermione wasn't in their room. It would be pretty crowded with seven of them. Six was bad enough.

Ginny quickly finished shampooing her hair and stepped out of the shower, wrapping herself up in a fluffy white towel before putting a drying spell on her hair. She got dressed in her uniform, a grey pleated skirt, white button-down shirt, and grey sweater, and pulled on her Gryffindor tie, but left it just hanging around her neck. She pulled her knee-socks up and left the bathroom, going to the mirror next to her bed. Her hair was still messy, so she quickly pulled a brush through it, as the early morning sunlight reflected off of the shiny red strands. It was down to the middle of her back now and she had no intention of cutting it.

Before going down to the common room she made sure to tie her tie properly and pulled on her shoes. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs it was just after seven thirty, so breakfast would still go on for another ninety minutes. There was no need for her to rush, so she walked over to the notice board, where a couple of bulletins were already up. A few were just for things that were lost. How people lost things after less than twenty-four hours, Ginny had no idea. The one that caught her eye was that Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs were going to be that coming weekend. Harry had managed to get it up already, which meant that he was probably already down for breakfast.

Just as she thought that, two arms slipped around her waist. She turned around and gave Harry a peck on the lips. "Shall we go down to breakfast and get our schedules?" she asked.  
"Sure, I don't see why not, we can come back and get our books after," he replied, taking her hand and walking out towards the portrait hole.

They quickly reached the great hall and walked, hand in hand, over to the Gryffindor table. They looked quickly up the table. Ron and Hermione were down at the other end, so Harry and Ginny walked down to the end of the table and sat down across from Ron and Hermione. Ron was, as usual when there was food involved, stuffing his face from a heaped plate in front of him. Hermione was reading the Daily Prophet. "Why do you still read that junk?" Ginny asked her.

"It's still informative, and the ministry is trying to take more control over what it prints now too," Hermione replied, not looking up, just continuing to read.

"I switched to the Quibbler," Ginny retorted. "Even if some of the articles are garbage, it at least tells the truth, and even the garbage articles are entertaining."

Hermione just snorted, still reading the paper in front of her. Harry rolled his eyes at the two of them and started to load his plate with food.

Professor McGonagall started to come up the table around eight o'clock. She got to the four of them quickly and handed them their schedules. Ginny had double transfiguration and then a free period that morning. After lunch she had potions, a free period, then herbology. It wasn't too bad a day. Tough, but not terrible. At least she had some free periods.

She grabbed Harry's schedule out of his hands. He gave her a joking glare. She just rolled her eyes and compared their schedules. He was in all of her classes except for Ancient Runes. He didn't take it, but Hermione did, so they would be in that class together. "Come on, Harry," she said, grabbing his hand, "Let's go grab our books from Gryffindor tower."  
Harry looked at her, "But its only eight thirty, classes don't start until nine fif-Oh," he exclaimed as Ginny gave him a meaningful look. "See you guys in transfiguration," Harry threw over his shoulder as he followed Ginny out of the hall.

He took the lead once they were outside and brought her to a passageway that almost nobody knew about. Once they were there, Ginny grabbed his face and met his lips with her own. She wound her hands into his hair as he pulled her up against him. She pulled back, "I've been waiting to do that all morning," she sighed. "We really do have to get our books though."

Harry sighed, but let her go and followed her up to the dormitories to grab his books and drop them into his school bag. He dropped in some quills, parchment, and ink in too. He was done quickly and walked back down to meet Ginny in the common room. He went back down to find Ginny waiting for him. It was now almost nine o'clock, and they had to start walking to transfiguration.  
The class went by quickly, as it was just review from the year before. Everybody could do most of it in the first few tries. They did get homework though as preparation for the next class. It was a foot-long essay on human transfiguration. The year before they had done some, but this year they were starting more extreme transfiguration, not just changing the color of your hair or eyes.  
They all had a free period after that except for Hermione. She had ancient runes. Ginny managed to convince the boys to start the essay though, even if it wasn't due until that Thursday, when their next lesson was. "If you save it, you'll end up freaking out at the last minute and doing a half-assed job," she pointed out to them.

Harry had to admit that she had a point, so he reluctantly took his books out and began work. It was very complicated and he was only halfway done by the end of the period. They met Hermione for lunch in the great hall, worked on the essay a little longer, and then went off to potions. The essay went much faster with Hermione's help, so Harry just had to write the conclusion by the end of lunch. Ron was a little bit behind, due to the fact that he had been a little bit distracted by Hermione being the one helping, even though she had been blatantly trying to get him to leave her alone and do his work while she started hers.

By the time they got down to the dungeons it was almost time for class, but Harry had to talk to Slughorn first. He had to tell him about the half-blood prince's book and how he wasn't really as good at potions as he seemed to be.

"Um, sir?" Harry questioned, standing in front of Slughorn's desk.

"Yes, Harry," Slughorn said, a smile on his face.

"Um, sir, about my potions in my sixth year..."

"Harry. Is there something that you need to say?" Slughorn questioned, now looking suspiciously at Harry.

"Yes, sir. You see, I-I had some help."

"Help, well its alright to get help, nothing to be ashamed of," Slughorn said jovially before Harry had finished.

"Well, it wasn't normal help," Harry tried to explain. "It-it was my text book. It had extra instructions written in the margins that I followed for most of the year," Harry blurted out.

"Oh, well, Harry. You were simply following different instructions. Nothing wrong with that, but I do wish you had told all of this earlier," Slughorn said, frowning slightly. "Anyhow, must get on with class. Go and take your seat, m'boy," he continued, slapping Harry on the back.

_T__hat went much better than I thought it would,_ Harry thought to himself, taking his seat again. Harry listened carefully in class, made sure to follow all of the directions for that day's potion, and actually managed to brew one that was almost exactly how it should have been. He was impressed by his own work.

His first day continued on well, with everyone making it through herbology and having no major problems. All in all, it had been a terrific first day back.

* * *

_September 6th 1998_

Harry woke up the first Saturday of the term satisfied with his first week bad. It had been tough getting used to the homework load, but overall uneventful. Today was Quidditch tryouts. It was Harry's second year running them and he had to get a good team together that year. As the captain and seeker it was difficult to instruct the team during games, so they had to be able to take care of themselves while he looked for the snitch.

He dressed quickly before going down to the great hall for breakfast. Tryouts wouldn't start until ten o'clock, so he had two hours to eat and get everything organized. He walked down and met Ginny and Ron at the table. They were up because they had to tryout for the team. Hermione was getting down to the pitch later, since all she was doing was spectating.

He ate quickly and then went back to grab his new broom. He had ordered a new firebolt from _Which Broomstick_. After the sudden increase of money in his account, he had felt like he could easily afford the new broom. It was still the best broom out, plus he already knew its kinks from having one previously.

Once he had grabbed his Quidditch robes from his trunk he headed down to the pitch. He walked there quickly and went into the changing rooms. He was having a tryout for every position, even though all of the previous chasers were still at Hogwarts. It only seemed fair to give new people a chance. He was trying the chasers out first with some throwing between a group of three. Then they would all take some shots at the goals. That would narrow it down. Aim was important. Then the bludgers would be released and they would have to practice dodging them without dropping the quaffle. Next were the keeper tryouts. He would have his newly chosen chasers take shots at each of the keepers. They would each have five shots to block. Whoever blocked the most shots would be the new keeper. Then there would be the beaters. Harry would basically set up a miniature game with all the beater wannabees trying to hit the chasers. Whoever had the best aim and strength overall would be the new beaters.

Once Harry had thought the tryouts through it seemed the slightest bit less complicated. It was nine thirty by then and people had started to arrive. He pulled his robes over his head, grabbed his broom, and marched outside into the waiting group of wannabee Quidditch players.

It was a smaller group than in his sixth year, thank god, but there were still a few dozen people there to tryout.

"Hey, all of you, quiet!" Harry yelled to get their attention. They quieted down surprisingly fast and Harry went on. "The first tryouts today will be the chaser tryouts. So, all of you who are trying out for chaser form groups of three." Everybody shuffled around and eventually he had five groups of three chasers each. He had the group that looked like it was all first years go first. Not one of them caught the quaffle once. Two more of the groups were terrible, so Harry had them all leave after that first test. It was easily narrowed down to the groups of Ginny, Demelza, and another girl who looked a bit younger, and Seamus, Dean, and another younger Gryffindor. They all took shots at the goals and the younger boy wasn't able to aim at all, so it was narrowed down to the other five. Harry released the bludgers. Demelza didn't even flinch when they came at her and Ginny did well too. The younger girl was hit pretty early on and Seamus had just barely avoided one as it went by his head.

After twenty minutes of this Harry called them all back down. He had made his decision. "All right. You've all done really well, but the chasers that have made the team are Ginny Weasley, Demelza Robins, and Dean Thomas," Harry announced to the waiting crowd. "Next we will be trying out keepers, so all people trying out for the keeper position please step forward."

Seven people stepped forward, including Ron. Two of them looked to just be first years, but the rest were all third year and above. Harry had a fifth year who he didn't know go first. He only blocked two shots. The third year, surprisingly, blocked four. Neither of the first years blocked any. A forth year only blocked one, and a sixth year Harry remembered seeing somewhere blocked four. Finally, it was Ron's turn. He blocked all five of the shots, surprising everyone, and was the new-returning-keeper of the Gryffindor team.

"Now everyone, can people trying out for beater please come to the front. Thank you. You will all be playing with the two bludgers trying to aim for the chasers. We don't need any injuries though, so don't aim for heads please," Harry explained what they needed to do. There were only five, including, and Harry was very surprised by this, the tiny Dennis Creevey. He was a forth year though, and was bigger than Collin had been at that age. All the beaters were pretty good, but two really stood out. Jimmy Peakes, who had been on the team before, was powerful and had pretty good aim, and Dennis had been hitting those bludgers like he had been doing it his whole life. His aim was impeccable. "Okay everybody. The final team is Ginny, Demelza, and Dean as chasers, me as seeker, Ron as keeper, and Dennis and Jimmy as beaters," Harry told everybody who was left.

Nobody objected to his choices that year. He was impressed by his new team and thought that they were about to have an extremely good season.

* * *

_September 19th 1998_

"Hey Harry," Neville greeted him as he sat down for dinner. He was just coming from a very successful Quidditch practice. It had been a good two weeks for the team so far. They practiced Mondays and Fridays and were already shaping up into a well-rounded team.

"Hey Neville," he responded while he started to load his plate with chicken and potatoes.

"Harry, err, how did you ask Cho out?" Neville asked, sounded nervous. That was a strange question.

"Um, well, I just kind of, said it," Harry replied unhelpfully. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Neville went back to eating.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to believe that?" Harry was grinning now. "This doesn't have anything to do with a certain blond witch name Lu-" Harry was cut off by Neville's hand over his mouth and he chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes then," he murmured when Neville removed his hand again.

"Err, yeah, fine," Neville admitted defeat. "I don't think she likes me."

"Of course she does Neville," Harry consoled him. "I'm pretty sure that she's been waiting for you to notice her for a while now actually."

Neville waved that off, "She doesn't like me Harry, but thanks for trying to make me feel better," he said as he got up and quickly left the great hall.

Ginny sat down next to Harry and leaned against his side. Harry automatically wrapped his arm around her waist. "Hey, what's up?" Ginny asked.

"Neville doesn't think that Luna likes him," Harry snorted, as he started to eat.

"Well, sometimes, boys are idiots," Ginny replied wisely.

"Hey, I take personal offense at that," Harry retorted.

"Oh, you know I love you," she said, kissing him gently. Harry knew she had been kidding and kissed her back.

He pulled away quickly, "I love you too," he whispered in her ear. She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

Harry started to eat again and she chuckled. "You can never keep a boy away from his food for long," she said, filling her own plate, "But if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

* * *

Hope you liked the chapter. I'll try to get the next one up before the new year, but no promises.


	5. Chapter 5

Yay! Another update! You can all thank me later, or not. Anyway, here is chapter 5. Hope you like it.

~Robin

Disclaimer: The characters and Hogwarts are all JKR's, the idea for a Halloween Dance might be mine, although somebody has probably used it before, so probably not. Anyway, just to be clear, this isn't mine, it belongs to the fabulous, intelligent, and totally amazing J. K. Rowling.

_

* * *

Chapter 5_

_October 4th 1998_

It was the first weekend of October when Harry saw something interesting on the notice board. He walked quickly over where the crowd was beginning to gather and read it over some of the younger students' heads.

**_First Hogsmeade Weekend-Saturday October 14th_**

**_Third years and up will be allowed to visit Hogsmeade Village for the day. Leave after breakfast and be home by dinner time. Enjoy the time out of the castle!_**

Harry was more enthusiastic than usual about the upcoming weekend. He hadn't seen Teddy for over a month and he really was supposed to take care of him and make sure that he was okay. Teddy was depending on him, and he had sort of abandoned him for a while. Harry would have felt really bad if he hadn't known that Molly was taking care of him.

In the time that Harry spent waiting for Ginny to come down so that they could go to breakfast the excitement in the room had spread throughout the house. By the time Ginny had gotten ready for the day the whole house was buzzing with the thought of their first Hogsmeade trip. Everybody except for the first years, anyway.  
Harry and Ginny walked down to the great hall where Ron and Hermione had already began to eat. Ron was, as usual, stuffing himself as Hermione sipped some pumpkin juice while reading the Daily Prophet.

Harry and Ginny plopped down onto the bench just as Dean sat down across from them. Dean let out a heavy sigh.

"What's up Dean?" Ginny asked him.

"Nothing," Dean muttered.

"Doesn't sound like nothing," Ginny responded coolly.

"It's no-" he stopped, seeing Ginny's glare. "Fine, all of you are dating somebody, and I feel like I should be too."

Harry almost chuckled, but a look from Ginny stopped him. Instead he pointed out, "Neville isn't dating anyone, and neither is Seamus."

Dean snorted at that. "Yeah, but Neville and Luna are meant to be, it's obvious, and Seamus asked Lavender to Hogsmeade about ten minutes ago."

"Oh," Harry murmured, not knowing what to say.

Ginny rolled her eyes at him, and whispered conspiratorially to Dean, "Well, I might be able to tell you that Lavender told me, that Padma told her, that Parvati might like you." Dean just looked confused. Blokes just couldn't take a hint. "Parvati likes you, but don't tell her I said so."

Dean brightened up. "Alright, but I can't just, ask her. It would be strange."

"Why would it be strange? People ask other people out all the time," Harry pointed out.

"Like you would know. But anyway, we've known each other so long and-" Dean glanced over to Ron and Hermione. She was leaning on Ron's shoulder now and he was holding her to his side. "Never mind. I'll ask her later," Dean muttered. Harry rolled his eyes at Dean's original logic. He really was kind of thick sometimes. How could Ginny ever have liked him.

Ginny, however, looked quite happy with herself and filled her plate up with breakfast. She was quite satisfied with her matchmaking for the day and was rewarding herself with a hardy breakfast. Well, maybe not rewarding herself, but she was hungry, so she ate. Harry took some bacon and toast too, and started to eat, watching Ginny. She noticed he was staring at her. "What?" she asked him.

"You are just amazing," he said to her. "You can set your ex up to ask someone else out without a second thought of your previous relationship."

"Of course I can. I have you now. And, to let you in on a secret, I like you much better." she grinned at him, winking, and kissed his cheek, turning back to her breakfast.

_How did I ever get her?_ Harry thought to himself as he watched her finish her eat.

* * *

_October 11th 1998_

"Neville, really, just go and ask her now. She wasn't planning on coming, but she'll be in Ravenclaw tower, and I'm sure she'd go if you just asked her." Ginny was trying to convince Neville, once again, that Luna would be very happy to go to Hogsmeade with him, but he just wasn't buying it. The confidence he had built up the year before obviously didn't stretch to girls quite yet, and he was still insistent that she would never like him.

They argued back and forth for ten more minutes before Ginny finally gave up. Harry had come down from the boys dorms and wrapped his arms around her waist. His musky scent was very distracting and well as his breath on the top of her head.

"Fine Neville. Be all morose and lonely if you want, but don't blame me if it turns out that Luna likes you and you couldn't get up the guts to ask her out just because you weren't sure if she liked you back," she threw the words over her shoulder as Harry guided her out of the common room and through the portrait hole.

He backed up as she stepped through and then followed her down the main stairway and out into the entrance hall. Filch jabbed them with his secrecy sensor, checked them off on his list, and they were finally on the road down to Hogsmeade.

Ginny pulled Harry along behind her as she started skipping down the road. He was jogging to keep up with her. "Ginny, slow down," he said. He was still breathing normally from all of his Quidditch training, but he was having trouble not tripping over his feet at the speed she was going.

"Nope, you'll just have to skip too," she said slyly to him.

"Why you little-ugh," he almost tripped again. "Fine," he gave in and skipped down with her. They were getting some strange looks, but Ginny honestly didn't care what everyone else thought. She was eager to see Teddy, and knew that Harry felt the same way. They made it into the village quickly, still skipping down the main street to the Three Broomsticks, where they were meeting Molly and Teddy. Molly was going to leave once Ginny and Harry had Teddy, but somebody had to stay with him until they arrived, so they were meeting in the crowded pub.

Harry held the door open for Ginny. They were both panting now and their faces were red from the exercise and laughter. They filed in and immediately saw Molly and Teddy across the room. Ginny walked quickly over to them, weaving her way through the already crowded pub full of students, Hogsmeade residents, and even some teachers all in town for the day as a nice break from being crowded inside the castle. Ginny groaned internally about the pile of homework she had left behind for the next day, but quickly swept that thought away. Today was a day for fun, not for worrying about schoolwork.

"Hey mum," she greeted her with a hug, taking Teddy into her arms.

"Hello Ginny, dear. Hello Harry. Thanks so much for taking him for the day. I forgot how hard raising a baby was after all these years. Take good care of him and don't spoil him too much," she said, already on her way out.

"I guess she really is tired," Harry grinned, laughter in his eyes. "She didn't go all motherly on us for more than thirty seconds."

"True. Then let's get going before she decides to come back on get all, as you say, 'motherly.' I'm sure that there must be some candy okay for babies in Honeydukes," Ginny said, carrying Teddy as they headed out the door.

They hit all the shops that day and got something for Teddy in every single one. By the end of the day he had some baby okay-ed candy, a few new stuffed animals to play with (a wolf, a stag, and a black dog), some finger-ink that would wash off of anything and would be fine for him if he accidentally ate any, and a few new story books for bedtime. Ginny was carrying his bag of stuff now and Harry was carrying Teddy.

People had been stopping them all day and asking who Teddy was and goggling at him. His hair was turquoise, so people were bound to stare. Everybody was exclaiming about how adorable he was. He was an instant hit with the people of Hogsmeade.

They had gotten some candy and supplies for themselves along with some reading material, but the trip had been mostly focused on Teddy. They wouldn't get to see him again for at least another month, so they made the best of the time that they had.

They got some ice cream before finally taking Teddy back to the Three Broomsticks to go back to the Burrow again. It was almost four, and they had to be back up at the castle by five, so they quickly gave Teddy back to Molly and after some hugs and kisses walked quietly and quickly back to the school grounds. It was just beginning to get dark so they had to hurry to not be late for dinner.

While Harry and Ginny were in Hogsmeade, Ron and Hermione had stayed back at the castle for some study time. Well, everybody knew that know studying happened at all, but they were saying it was because they had to study. Ron was behind on homework already, but Hermione was already finished with everything due the next week, so she could have only been helping Ron, and well, she never helped with homework much, so it was obvious that they just wanted some alone time.

Hermione and Ron were in her room. She had brought him up for some time alone and out of the common room. Most people were at Hogsmeade too, so nobody would really bother them. She was always so busy with school and head duties that she and Ron didn't get much time to themselves anymore.

They were sitting on her bed and arguing. It was one of their favorite past times.

"Come on, Hermione, just tell me your password," Ron was goading her.

"No it's too embarrassing," she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Please. I might need to come find you some night, and if I don't know your password I'll never be able to get to you."

She rolled her eyes at his logic but after a brief pause she mumbled something quietly.

"Erm, I couldn't hear you," Ron said to her.  
She rolled her eyes again. "Fine. Ronald. Is what I said," she reiterated.  
"Okay, tell me," Ron was looking eager now.

Hermione sighed. "I already did. Ronald." Now he looked confused. "Oh, goodness, gracious. My password is Ronald," she almost shouted it, but caught herself just in time.

"Why are you getting so mad?" he questioned gently, still confused why she was getting so worked up about it.

She groaned again. "The password to come into this room is Ronald. R-O-N-A-L-D. Ronald," she said, completely exasperated.

Ron just sat there looking at her. He quickly collected himself and leaned over to kiss her. It was short and sweet and said everything that needed to be said between them.

He released her lips quickly, but she sat up and retook them. Their kiss intensified as Ron pushed her backwards onto the bed. Their lips were moving in synchronization as the kiss deepened. Ron was keeping his weight carefully on his arms as their bodies pressed together on the bed. Hermione opened her mouth and her breath filled his mouth, leaving him gasping for air. He quickly brought their lips together again and their tongues danced.

Their mouths were moving more urgently now, but just then, Ron pulled back.

She almost complained, but then she heard his stomach grumbling and realized why he had pulled back. She laughed quietly to herself. _Boys and their appetites._

Hermione quickly fixed her hair and clothes in the bathroom while Ron waited impatiently for her on the bed.

"Come on. Let's go," she conceded defeat, her hair was way too frizzy for her to fix on most days anyway, so she put it into a pleat down her back and grabbed Ron's hand, taking him down to the common room, and out into the castle for dinner. "We'll have to ask Harry and Ginny how their day with Teddy was."

"Right, yeah, Harry and Ginny," Ron mumbled. She rolled her eyes. He had always been more interested in food than she could possibly understand. It was a boy thing-no-it was a Weasley thing. Even Ginny ate a lot more than the average person.

"Oh, at least pretend to be interested," she scolded.

"Fine, for you, I will pretend to be interested in whatever the hell they end up talking about, unless its snogging, then I will ignore them," he corrected himself quickly.

Hermione smiled, he may be a prat sometimes, but he was her prat, and she loved him just the way he was.

* * *

_October 19th 1998_

Harry was eating a leisurely breakfast in the great hall when he felt someone tap his left shoulder. He turned around only to see nobody there.

"Gotcha," he heard from his other side. He turned back around to see Ginny sitting on his right side, loading her plate with eggs and putting marmalade on her toast. He scowled teasingly at her before pecking her on the lips and going back to his breakfast.

"Guess what I saw on the notice board," Ginny said, once again grabbing his attention.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me," Harry responded.

"There's going to be a dance the day after Halloween," she said excitedly. Harry groaned in response and she pouted at him. "It'll be fun. We all wear costumes and McGonagall booked the Weird Sisters and we'll be able to dance, plus, this time you'll at least have a date that you actually like," she was just going on and on.

"Well it's bound to be better than the Yule Ball," Harry finally conceded. "That was terribly boring. But, where are we supposed to be getting costumes, and who says that I'm asking you?" he responded teasingly.

"Well, I know you're taking me, because no other girl would go with you because of the risk that asking you would mean for them. I do have a pretty good bat bogey hex. And McGonagall set up a Hogsmeade weekend so that we can all go to buy our costumes. There are a couple shops that will be selling that kind of thing for us to buy specifically that weekend."

Harry was amused. "You know I was kidding about taking anybody else," he said. "You think of what I'm going to be, though. I'm not good with that kind of thing at all."

Ginny grinned. "I'm sure you'd do fine, but since you asked, I will be happy to oblige." She kissed him again.

"Oi, knock it off! I'm trying to eat here," Ron groaned. He had arrived without either of them noticing his presence. Ginny rolled her eyes and gave him a scathing look before going back to her breakfast, scooting purposefully closer to Harry's side as she did so.

Ron was not amused, but chose to ignore it and went back to eating. Harry just chuckled at their behavior and finished his breakfast quietly, letting the rumble of the other voices in the hall wash over him. He was looking down towards the end of the table closer to the entrance when he noticed two people wrapped up in each other, literally, lips locked. He nudged Ginny with his elbow and nodded his head towards them.

"Is that Dean and..." She asked him. He just nodded again inspecting her face for any signs of emotion. She sighed, noticing what he was doing. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm _over_ him," she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Harry gave up. "Fine, I'm convinced, alright."

"No, but I think that right now Dean has the right idea." Harry looked confusedly at her until she leaned over to kiss him intensely. His heart was beating fast by the time she pulled away. Ron was glaring at them again. They rolled their eyes at him at the same time.

"Get used to it Ron. I'm planning on keeping her around for a long time," Harry told him. Ginny snorted and muttered under her breath.

"I'll get used to it eventually. Just, just try not to get too intense around me, okay," he pleaded.

"Alright, as long as you do the same. Hermione's just as much my sister as Ginny is yours, and seeing you two snogging isn't the most pleasant thing to have to witness." Ron's ears were tinged with red, but before he exploded, Ginny took Harry's hand and dragged him away down towards where Dean and Parvati were sitting.

"I guess the date went well," she said, interrupting the kiss. Harry almost swore that he heard a suction-cup like noise as the two separated. Parvati was blushing fiercely and Dean's cheeks were tinged red, but you could barely see it because of his dark skin. He was grinning shyly at them and nodded before turning back to his food. Actual food this time, not Parvati's lips.

"That was worse than Ron and Hermione," Ginny groaned. "Now we're going to have to be watching that in the common room all the time. There really should be somewhere specifically for snogging couples, so the rest of us poor innocents don't have to be forced to watch."

Harry grinned and pulled her tighter to his side as they walked up the staircase towards Gryffindor tower. "You're a hypocrite, you know that?" he told her.

"Sure do," she retorted, before kissing him soundly on the lips once more, in the middle of the crowded stairs. "But you love me for it."

"I certainly do," Harry murmured into her hair.

* * *

_October 29th 1998_

"Neville, just ask her. What harm will it do if she says no," Harry was trying once again to convince Neville to ask Luna to the dance. The last week and half had been spent buying the costumes, asking dates to the dance, and watching decorations being put up in the hall. Oh, and the usual Quidditch practice and school work. Neville still looked worried though. "She'll say yes. I'm one hundred-er ninety-nine-percent sure of it," Harry continued badgering him.

"But, Harry, I'm just not," Neville ran his hand through his longish hair. It hadn't been cut in a while so it was almost to his shoulders.

"No more nonsense, just ask her already. She's been looking hopeful for days, and I won't have you screwing this up for both of you!" Harry was almost yelling at him. Neville looked scared, even though he knew that Harry wouldn't do anything to rash, he decided not to risk it.

"Fine, fine, I'll ask her at breakfast tomorrow," he finally gave in.

"Thank Merlin," Harry sighed in relief. It was the Wednesday before the Halloween and Neville still hadn't asked Luna to go with him. He had been slowly getting more and more aggravated with his friend until he finally had snapped right then. He knew that this would work out in the end. Now he had to find Ginny. She had supposedly bought their costumes for the dance, but he hadn't tried his on yet. He didn't even know what he was going as, or what Ginny was going as for that matter. His musings came to a halt when a red-haired bullet ran up to him, an excited look on her face.

"Ready to try your costume on Harry?" she asked him, a malicious look spreading across her face.

"Yes?" he said, but it sounded more like a question than an actual answer.

"Don't worry. It'll be perfect. I picked it out myself." He rolled his eyes at her logic, but allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs to the boy's dormitories. He noticed the bundle of fabric under her arm as she pulled him up behind her. She kicked the door open and luckily the room was empty. She shoved the bundle of fabric into his arms, "There, change into those."

Harry looked at the wadded mass of fabric, but decided it was better late that never. "Alright, but cover your eyes," he commanded her. She brought her hands up in front of her face as he turned around.

He pulled his sweater and t-shirt off and pulled the white one she had given him over his head. The sleeves were slightly puffed and the shirt was made of a sturdy, but comfortable material. He changed into the pants she had given him. They were very simple. He turned around and saw that her eyes were wide open. "You weren't supposed to look he muttered to her."

She ignored him and inspected the outfit. "Just needs this," she decided, and pulled a tri-cornered hat from behind her back. He put it on. "See, you're a pirate. All we need to do the night of the dance is transform your hand into a hook." Harry blanched. What if it didn't turn back. Ginny rolled her eyes. "We'll have Hermione do it." Harry calmed down immediately.

"What are you going as then?" Harry questioned her.

he rolled her eyes again. "A pirate, duh. There are female pirates too," Harry looked slightly ashamed for not connecting that as she pulled out a second bundle of clothes. "I'll change and you can see."

"Alright, but change in the bathroom. Somebody could walk in at any time," he said, pointing to a door behind him. "If your brother walked in on you changing and me in the same room he would kill me." She sighed, knowing it was the truth, and walked into the bathroom.

She quickly changed and came back out. Harry's eyes widened. She was wearing a very low-cut white blouse, similar to his own, that showed a good amount of her cleavage. It also had a large rip across the back, revealing her toned back. Her skirt went to mid-calf, but had a long slit going up to the middle of her thigh and she had white tights on underneath it, with tall black boots to complete the outfit. He gulped nervously.

"Um, you do realize I'm not going to be the only one to see you in that Ginny?" He said, his voice higher than usual.

"Of course, but I'm only wearing it for your benefit," she purred, coming up in front of him, so that he had a very good view down her shirt.

Harry sighed in defeat. "Fine, but, wear a tank top underneath that, please," he added on, almost begging. It was much too tempting.

"Alright," she complied, starting what would have been a good snog if Ron hadn't chosen that moment to come into the room.

"Gin, what are you wearing?" he yelled, aghast.

"My costume," she replied calmly.

"You are NOT wearing that in public. I don't even think you should wear that in private," he kept yelling at her.

"If it was Hermione wearing this you wouldn't be complaining," Ginny said, exasperated.

"Yeah, but that's not the point," Ron spluttered.

"Ron, you can't control what I wear, you can't control who I date, and you can't control what I do, so bugger off my life," Ginny was raising her voice now too. Ron looked taken aback and sank onto his bed as Ginny disappeared back into the bathroom.

Harry sighed. "I tried too. She promised to wear a tank top underneath the shirt," Harry was trying to make Ron feel better, but was not doing a very good job. Ginny came back out, gave Harry a lingering kiss before Harry pulled away, shaking his head that now was not the time. She sighed, but gave him a kiss on the cheek before leaving again. Harry had finished all the school work for the next day and it was getting late so he changed back out of his costume and into his pajamas before turning in for the night. By the time he was asleep Ron was already snoring, and Neville was the only other one back. Deep sleep overtook him and he dreamed of Ginny and Ron hitting each other over the head with stuffed beater's bats that made loud honking noised every time they made contact.

* * *

_October 31st 1998_

Ginny was, once again, dragging Harry through the hallways. They had been caught up in short snogging session when Harry's stomach had reminded them of the Halloween feast awaiting them, so they were running late. Harry took the lead, pulling her through some secret passageways that she had never known existed and getting them to the great hall ten minutes before the feast was supposed to start.

The tables were already starting to fill up, but they managed to find seats near the rest of the seventh years before space ran out. They were across from Seamus and Lavender who still didn't quite look comfortable with each other. Their Hogsmeade date had gone okay, and they were going to the dance together the next day, but they weren't really together yet and each of them were slightly awkward around the other. It was interesting how two people who had known each other so long were able to act so strange just because of a change in their relationship.  
The tables were soon filled and at exactly six o'clock the usual bats were released into the hall, the enchanted ceiling showing the stormy night outside. It was the perfect mood for Halloween.

McGonagall stood and tapped her fork against her glass, clearing her throat as she prepared to speak. "Good evening everyone. Our fine feast is about to begin, so please enjoy the food, enjoy the company, and enjoy the evening's entertainment after," she said in her sharp way. The food blossomed into appearance on the tables and everybody was soon distracted with filling their plates to the max.

There was all of their favorite dishes along with some Halloween specialties. Ginny had three servings before she was stuffed, but when she looked up, Ron was still eating.

"That's his fifth plate," Hermione choked. She looked disgusted at how much her boyfriend could eat.

"He's your boyfriend," Ginny pointed out to her.

"Yours isn't much better," Hermione retorted. "That's his third piece of Treacle Tart that he just finished." Harry grinned bashfully at her.

"Yes, but at least with that I can go like this," she leaned over and licked some of the remaining dessert off of his lips.

"Trynaehe!" came from Ron's mouth.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Ginny asked, kissing Harry.

"I said, I'm trying to eat here," Ron reiterated after he swallowed his large mouthful of food.

"Oh, sorry," Ginny said with a sarcastic smile. "Next time try to swallow before talking." Ron was unabashed as he ate his last few bites of food.

Throughout the meal Halloween music had been playing and the ghosts and bats had been flying around the table. After the meal the ghosts told a traditional Hogwarts Halloween story and did some synchronized flying, the bats occasionally passing through them. It was all quite fun to watch, but eventually they had to leave and go to bed. Professor McGonagall stood once more to end the evening.

"I hope you have all enjoyed the festivities tonight," she started. Everybody cheered quickly before she called them to attention again. "Tomorrow night there will be the costume party. Remember, first through third years will only be allowed to stay from five to nine. Everybody else may stay until midnight. Make sure to come in costume. Now, get some rest, you have another late night waiting for you tomorrow," she finished, waving them off to bed.

Ginny stood quickly, taking Harry's hand. Ron and Hermione followed them out of the hall and up the main staircase. They all made it to Gryffindor tower quickly and went to their respective dormitories. It was almost midnight, and like McGonagall had said, they would have another late night tomorrow. They needed to rest while they could.

Ginny quickly changed out of her robes, climbed into bed, and fell into a deep sleep where for once, no dreams passed through her subconscious.

* * *

Look forward to the dance next chapter! It's dance prep, the dance, and after the dance, but it will be a normal length chapter. I hope you'll be imprssed. Tell me what you think of this one. Read and review.


	6. Chapter 6

Ack! I'm such a bad person! I haven't updated for almost a month and I've just had this chapter sitting around for ages! I'm SO sorry for the uber long wait. Like, really, really, really sorry, but with more really's. Anyway, here is the day of the dance for you. I hope you enjoy it.

~Robin

Disclaimer: J.K.R. probably never took this long to write a chapter, and she also never had a Halloween dance, so I am obviously not her; therefore, I do NOT own Harry Potter. I do own Evie and Nick, though. You'll see them later in this chapter.

_

* * *

Chapter 6_

_November 1st 1998_**  
**

The sound of her curtains being opened was the first thing that Ginny heard the next morning. Hermione was standing over her bed, dressed in a plain shirt and sweatpants. Today was obviously going to be relaxing. "Come on Gin. It's time for lunch, and then we have to get ready for the ball," she commanded, opening the curtains around her four-poster bed the rest of the way.

"Lunch?" Ginny questioned. "It can't be that late yet ca-" she looked over at her clock. It was one thirty. "Eeep-Why didn't you wake me earlier!" she yelled into Hermione's face. She was wide awake now.

"I thought you could use some sleep. Now, if you want some food before we start to get ready I suggest you change so that we can go down to the great hall for lunch," she said throwing some sweats into Ginny's face.

"Alright, I'm getting up. See?" Ginny sighed in defeat. It looked like it wasn't going to be as relaxing a day as she had thought. But, on the plus side, at least she had gotten to sleep late.

The seventh year girls all had a quick lunch, before going back to Gryffindor tower (the exception being Luna, as she was a Ravenclaw). It was three o'clock before Parvati and Hermione physically dragged Ginny away from her Harry time to get ready for the dance.

"I still can't believe it takes them three hours to get ready," she heard Harry grumbling as she was pulled away by her friends.

"I can't either," Ginny yelled back. She heard him laugh and smiled, happy that she had made him feel better.

They brought her up to Hermione's room to get ready. Lavender was already up there getting everything set up. Lavender was going to the party with Seamus.

After Hermione whispered her password and the door opened, Ginny was shocked at the sheer amount of make-up, hair-styling equipment, perfumes, and other objects of beautification littering the room. Every surface was covered except for the bed. That was where all of their costumes were laid out, each one carefully folded.

Ginny was shoved bodily into the room from behind. As she stumbled forward she caught herself easily on one of the posts of Hermione's four-poster bed.

"Alright Ginny. You take the first shower," Hermione commanded.

Ginny walked quickly to the bathroom before they could force her into something more drastic, like perfume! _Eeep. There is no way I'm letting them dowse me in perfume! _she grimaced at the thought.

She quickly peeled off her sweats and scrubbed her body with her favorite jasmine scented soap. She washed her hair with her fruity smelling shampoo before carefully conditioning and combing out all of the tangles with her fingers. Her hair went down to the middle of her back, but was stick strait and took almost no effort to take care of.

As Ginny stepped out of the shower she noticed a white robe that was hanging inside the bathroom door. She dried her body off with a towel before using a drying spell on her hair and pulling the robe on over her shoulders. She heard a knock on the door.

"Are you almost done?" came Hermione's muffled voice from the other side of the door.

"I'm coming out right now," Ginny soothed her. She opened the door and quickly stepped out before Hermione entered again. She looked around the room. Lavender was the only one left in there.

"I showered before I came up and Parvati just went down to our bathroom," she explained, shrugging. "Now, Ginny, what are we going to do with your hair?"

"Can't I just leave it down?" Ginny asked, knowing that it would do no good.

"How about a side braid?" Hermione asked.

"Perfect," Lavender agreed. "It won't take too long, and your hair will be a little wavy tomorrow, but nothing too bad," she told Ginny.

Ginny sighed and nodded, allowing them to brush her hair out and slowly work it into a braid that went over her right shoulder and down below her breasts. She looked in the mirror and, to her surprise, it actually looked really good. Her hair was shiny and sleek. It went down her chest in a thick braid that wasn't too tight or too loose.

Parvati then came in through the unlocked door, wearing a white robe like the rest of them.

By the time everybody else's hair was finished, Ginny had been forced back into a chair to be made-up. Hermione was only putting dark eye-liner and mascara on her to enhance the dark pirate look, but Ginny hated make-up of all sorts, so she was _not_ enjoying it. Thank god she didn't have to wear lipstick.

Make-up for everybody else was quickly finished and the girls all eased their tops or dresses on over their hair and make-up, trying hard not to ruin everything with just one slip of their hands.

Ginny pulled the white tank top the Harry had requested she wear over her head, stretching the opening top so that it wouldn't touch her head as she slipped it on. She then pulled on the loose, peasant-style white blouse and checked her hair and face in the mirror. She exhaled in relief as she saw that nothing had been smudged or displaced. The other girls also looked fine, so they continued dressing the rest of the way.

Ginny grabbed her ripped skirt and pulled it up to where it sat low on her waist, a thin belt slung over her hips, not really supporting the skirt, merely decoration. The rip up the side only went up to mid-thigh, so she didn't see why Harry had been so freaked out. Finally, she pulled on the tall black leather boots and her three-cornered hat with a skull-and-cross-bones on it to complete the look. She buckled a fake sword and sheath onto her belt and faced the room where the rest of the girls were adding finishing touches.

Everybody was dressed and it was still before five thirty. They had made good time. Ginny took a moment to admire the other girls' costumes.

Hermione had on a tight black dress that went down to just above her knees. She also had fish-net stockings, and the sleeves of the dress went over her hands with holes for her thumbs to stick out of. To complete the look she had on a black and red cape with a high collar and tall black boots that reached her knees. Her canine teeth were transformed to be long and pointy and she had red lipstick and black eyeliner for even more added effect. She looked just like a Muggle's version of a vampire.

Parvati, as a cheerleader, was wearing a short red and gold skirt and a matching top. The top was sleeve-less and the skirt was slit every couple inches to her upper thigh so that it would flare out if she spun. Even without the slits it would only have gone to the mid-thigh anyway. She had on gold trainers and was carrying red and gold pom-poms. She _was_ a _Gryffindor _cheerleader after all. Her make-up was exaggerated and she had golden eyeliner around her dark eyes.

Lavender was wearing a long low-cut ball gown. It was a light green with silver accents and she had silver flats on her feet, but you could only see them if she lifted the hem of her skirt. She had minimal make-up on, but she didn't need much. Her skin was smooth and her blue eyes stood out from the rest of her face. She didn't have any accessories accept for the combs in her hair which Ginny thought looked almost like a tiara, now that she saw them better. Lavender was a perfect princess.

It was just before six and they had to meet the boys or they would be late, so they headed down from Hermione's room and out into the common room.

* * *

As the girls walked down the stairs, each of the boys' mouths dropped when they saw their dates.

He immediately walked over to her and kissed her chastely and quickly, remembering that Ron was in the room. She rolled her eyes at him and pulled his lips back to hers for another minute before releasing them.

"You do realize that Ron was in the room," Harry said.

"Yes, but he was distracted," Ginny smirked at him. Harry turned to see Ron snogging Hermione intently. "You'd thing that after they almost have–I shouldn't have said that."

"You thing that I don't know that already... but yeah, you would think he would be used to seeing her in–err–somewhat revealing clothing."

"While I do enjoy talking about this extremely awkward subject, what do you say we head for the great hall?" she suggested.

"That sounds alright to me," Harry said, taking her by the arm like a gentleman and guiding her out of the portrait hole, down the stairs, and to the great hall.

By the time they arrived, it was half full of students of all ages; from awkward-looking first and second years who were either with friends, or their (most likely) first date, to pairs of sixth and seventh years snogging in corners. Harry and Ginny quickly found a table where Neville and Luna had already sat down. Neville and Luna weren't quite used to being on a date with each other yet, and were acting strangely ( in Luna's case more strangely than usual). Hermione and Ron arrived quickly afterwards and the atmosphere quickly loosened up, becoming much more like when the friends had gotten together in the past.

They chatted for a few minutes before Professor McGonagall called for attention. They waited for her to speak. "Welcome to Hogwarts' first ever Halloween costume dance." Everybody clapped and cheered. "Remember, first through third years can only stay until nine o'clock, so have some fun while you are here. Enjoy." She opened the menu next to the plate setting that had suddenly appeared in front of her. She looked through it quickly and then said, very clearly, "Shepherd's pie."

Everybody picked up on this very quickly. Harry remembered the same method of dining during the Yule Ball. He opened his menu and ordered. The food immediately appeared and he started to eat. Ron was already shoveling his food into his mouth. Harry looked over at Hermione to find that she was looking at him, too. They rolled their eyes in unison before turning back to their own plates.

Once Harry finished his main course his dessert appeared. It was his favorite: Treacle Tart. He ate that quickly and by the time the last bits had faded from his plate, almost everybody else was done eating. The conversation was starting to grow louder as more people had empty mouths. The talking at their table had been going throughout dinner. They had touched on school work (there was way too much of it), Quidditch (of course), and the girls had gossiped some. Harry and Ron tried hard to avoid being involved in that part of the conversation. In fact, Ron only said one thing throughout the whole meal.

"I heard that Moaning Myrtle was coming to this dance with Peeves. I wonder where they are..." Luna said, dreamily looking around the room.

Then Ron replied, in a scathing tone of voice, "Right. That's about as likely as the existence of crumple-horned snorkacks." Neville sent a glare at him across the table, but Ron just shrugged.

Luna hadn't noticed anything, she just said, "Oh, very likely then." Harry assumed that Ron had only said anything at all because he had finished eating and didn't have any food that was preventing him from saying anything intelligible.

As the last people finished their meals McGonagall said, "Would everybody please stand." Everyone stood and she clapped her hands. The place settings disappeared as the tables and chair moved to the edges of the room. A band that Harry didn't know the name of came onto a stage that Harry hadn't noticed before. He supposed that it was possible that it hadn't even been there before.

The band started to play an upbeat song and Ginny looked at Harry expectantly. "Err, Gin. I don't really dance very well," he muttered.

"That's okay. Follow my lead. Fred doesn't dance very well either and that's never stopped him."

Harry wasn't convinced, but decided to take her word for it. "Alright then. In that case, would you like to dance?" he asked, holding his hand out for her to take.

"I would love to," she answered, taking his hand and pulling him out onto the dance floor which was already starting to fill with couples. Ron and Hermione followed them out and they soon found Parvati and Dean dancing closer to the center of the floor. It was mostly the older and younger students out now; the ones that had been to the Yule Ball four years previously, and the ones that could only stay for two more hours. The younger students were dancing in packs (mostly the girls. The boys wouldn't dance until they were sure nobody would tease them for it) and rather enthusiastically. They were lucky they had gotten to come at all.

* * *

Ginny was having a great time with Harry, and they danced for a few songs before a slow dance was announced. The younger students were quickly evacuating the dance floor, except for one pair of first years. They were completely wrapped up in staring at each other. One of the boys' friends nudged him, but the boy paid him no attention. He whispered something to the girl, not looking into her eyes. She grinned and nodded happily at him. His face relaxed into a grin and he took both of her hands. They were the only students from first and second year still on the dance floor.

The slow music started as Ginny looped her arms around Harry's neck and felt her arms snake around her waist, drawing her in close. She leaned her head contentedly onto his shoulder, before stretching up to whisper into his ear. "Do you see those two first years over there?"

He looked to where she was looking. "Yeah," he responded confused.

"Who do they remind you of?" she asked to him, still whispering.

He studied them more closely. The way that they were looking into each other's eyes and were completely oblivious to the world around them and the stares and giggles of their classmates. "Us," he said simply. "when we first kissed after the Quidditch final. That is probably just what we looked like afterwards."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I love you, Harry."

"Love you too, Gin." He pulled her in closer and kissed her gently. It was soft and sweet and she knew at that moment, more than any other in her life so far, how much he really did love her.

"I know," she replied simply. They danced until the slow song ended before going to sit at one of the tables with some butterbeer.

They watched the first year couple some more and Ginny laughed when the girl kissed the boy on the cheek before running away to talk to her friends again. The boy looked shocked and touched his cheek in awe. His friends came over, badgering him with questions and teasing him, but he just shrugged them all off.

Around eight thirty, Ginny noticed the girl's friends had all left for a moment. She went over to talk to the girl. Harry was talking to Seamus and Dean, so he would be fine without her for a while.

"Hi," she said quietly.

The girl looked surprised that a seventh year was talking to her. "Err, hi," she responded, sounding puzzled. Then she remembered her manners, "I'm Evie. What's your name."

"I'm Ginny." Ginny responded. Then the mischievous glint entered her eye.

"Wait. Your Harry Potter's girlfriend?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, but that's not important," Ginny shrugged. "What I came to aske you, is do you like that boy?" she asked nodding to the boy that Evie had danced with earlier.

Evie blushed, but nodded. "Yeah," she sighed dreamily.

"He's pretty cute," Ginny commented, but then heard somebody clear their throat behind her.

"And what about me?" Harry asked teasingly.

"Oh, you know I think you're more than cute. Anyway, why don't you be polite instead interrupting other people's conversations," she admonished teasingly. Evie barely reacted to the fact that the famous Harry Potter was sitting at her table.

Evie went on like she had never been interrupted. "He's adorable," she said. "His name's Nick, and I wish that first years could go to Hogsmeade for the sole purpose that he could ask me to go with him."

Ginny nodded wisely, before saying, "Only two more years. You'll make it. I think he likes you too." Evie looked very happy at that, and went to find her friends after saying goodbye to Harry and Ginny.

"She's adorable," Ginny cooed as Evie walked away. "We're definitely having children someday," she said without thinking.

Harry was stunned by her statement, but recovered quickly. "Yeah, but I think we've got a few years between now and then," he replied.

"Of course," Ginny said, chuckling. "I need to have a few seasons of professional Quidditch before that."

"Of course," Harry agreed readily. He didn't want children right after Hogwarts either. He wanted Ginny to himself for a while, first.

A few minutes later, the younger students were told to leave. As they began to file out of the hall Ginny noticed that Evie was talking to Nick again. They were holding hands as they walked towards the entrance hall and then disappeared from view. Ginny grinned at this and took Harry's hand, once more dragging him out to the dance floor.

They danced for a while with Ron and Hermione. Neville and Luna had also finally come out to the dance floor. It looked like Neville's dancing had improved too, since Luna wasn't wincing in pain every time he took a step. Ginny knew from personal experience how bad a dancer he was.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, Ginny spotted something. It was Lavender and Seamus. They were arguing. She tapped Hermione's shoulder (the boys had gone to get drinks). "Look," she whispered, pointing towards the couple. Hermione looked at them and then turned back to Ginny, motioning for her to follow.

They crept close enough to the couple to hear what they were saying.

"Do you still like him, then?" Seamus questioned Lavender.

"Of course not! I never really _like_ liked Ron! He was just a fling," she exclaimed.

Hermione winced at the mention of her boyfriend's previous relationship and said, "Glad he wasn't here to hear that bit."

Seamus looked taken-aback. "Do you actually like _me_ then?" he accused.

"Of course I do," she murmured, "I'm just not sure if I like you _this_ way."

"Oh," he trailed off, looking awkward. "Err, just friends?" he asked hesitantly.

Lavender nodded, looking relieved. "Yeah, just friends," she muttered before kissing his cheek and walking away, probably to find Parvati.

"Well... that was interesting," Ginny said.

"Yeah, they fought, and are now friends, but I guess it worked out for the best?" Hermione stated, but it sounded more like a question.

"Weird," Ginny shrugged, and turned around, scouring the hall for her boyfriend to tell him what had just transpired.

Harry was quickly found and filled in on what had happened. He looked around for Ron, only to see his two best mates disappearing out of the doors to the great hall. He did _not_ want to know what they were up to, but was at least glad that they weren't about to snog in front of half of the school. He looked back at Ginny, who was staring at him concernedly, probably wondering why he had been quiet for the last few minutes.

He bent down and kissed her forehead before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the exit. She caught on quickly and followed him eagerly out of the hall and onto the grounds, into the cool October night.  


* * *

They snogged. For a _long_ time, but they weren't the only ones. Hermione and Ron, Dean and Parvati, and several other couples had also managed to find a private place somewhere around the school. By the time Ginny and Harry re-entered the school, with slightly rumpled clothes and messy hair, the dance was over and everyone was heading back to their common rooms. They joined the crowd for the walk back to Gryffindor tower.

"Guess what I have for the seventh years once we get back," Ginny said to Harry.

"Why don't you just tell me," Harry replied.

"You're no fun," Ginny groaned. Harry pouted at her and she laughed. It just looked so strange. "Fine. I've got a bottle of fiewhiskey."

Harry looked at her. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Me and Hermione thought that we should play Never Have I Ever after the dance," she said.

"And Hermione suggested firewhiskey," Harry said skeptically.

"Well, she doesn't exactly know about that part," Ginny said. "Fred and George gave me the firewhiskey before the start of term."

Harry was still skeptical. "Please," Ginny begged him. Then she pouted. Harry sighed. She knew exactly how to get him on her side.

"Fine," he said finally. He was going to regret this. He was supposed to be the responsible one. "But you're convincing Hermione." He could swear he heard her mumble something along the lines of 'dammit' under her breath. He chuckled. There was no way he would be the one trying to convince Hermione to let them drink alcohol on school premises.

They walked in silence the rest of the way, Harry's arm over Ginny's shoulder, her arm around his waist. Ginny was thinking. Then, she got it. She knew how to get Hermione to agree. This was going to be almost too easy.

When they got back to the common room, they found that Ron and Hermione were already there, as were the rest of the Gryffindors from their year. Even Neville was back. Everybody was in the corner by the fire, chatting-or in the case of Ron and Hermione, snogging. Lavender and Seamus were looking slightly awkward, but everybody else seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Harry and Ginny went over to join them. Ginny walked over to Hermione and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hermione," she said in a sing-song voice. "If you would like to disentangle yourself from my brother than we could initiate our plan."

Hermione and Ron stopped snogging, and Hermione stood up next to Ginny, blushing. "Err. Right then. Well, let's get changed first, and then we can all meet in my room."

"Why your room?" Ron asked.

"You'll find out," Hermione said. "Plus. It's private. Go put pajamas on and meet us up there and we'll tell you what's going on."

Harry shrugged as Ron looked towards him. Sure, he knew what was happening, but he wasn't about to tell Ron that.

Hermione and the rest of the girls went up to Hermione's room where all their pajamas waited to change. Except for Ginny. She was going to her dorm to get the firewhiskey first before going up to the head girl's dormitory.

When she arrived the girls were all changed, so she changed into her flannel pajama pants and tank top before bringing up the subject of the firewhiskey to Hermione.

"Hermione," Ginny said, "I thought of a way to make this more fun."

Hermione looked up. "How?" she asked.

"Well, Fred and George gave me this before term, so I thought we could use this instead of just butterbeer," she suggested, holding up the firewhiskey.

Hermione paled slightly, but didn't argue. "Alright." Ginny looked surprised at her agreement. "What? We're all of age, plus I figure you had some way to force me into it anyway, so I might as well save time by just not arguing in the first place." Ginny just stared at her, but then the door crashed open and the boys stormed in, Ron leading the way.

"Of course he has the password," Ginny muttered. Even _she_ didn't have the password to Hermione's room. Hermione must have heard because she rolled her eyes.

"Okay, now that everybody is here I'll tell you what we're actually doing," Hermione said.

"Finally," Ron said.

Hermione shot him a glare before continuing. "We're playing Never Have I Ever." The boys all gave her blank looks except for Harry and Dean. The girls were all excited, though.

"What's that?" Seamus asked her.

"Basically, you all sit in a circle with a glass of firewhiskey. The glasses are enchanted to light up if you lie. So the first person will say something that they've never done, and if you have done it you have to drink. It can be anything from like, writing an essay, to skydiving, to snogging," Ginny explained.

"Oh, and whoever's glass empties first loses, so the last person with firewhiskey left wins," Hermione added.

"Alright," Ron shrugged. "Sounds like it could be fun." He sat down on the floor and the other teenagers all joined him, forming a circle in the middle of the room.

Hermione poured everybody a glass of firewhiskey. "Now remember, only drink a mouthful each time, otherwise you'll run out too quickly." Everybody nodded, ready to start. "I'll go first, shall I? Alright, never have I ever," she thought for a second, "gotten seasick."

"That's boring," Dean complained. He drank.

"You're only complaining because you have to drink," Parvati teased him. He rolled his eyes at her. He was the only one to drink that time.

"I'm next," Ginny said. They were going in a circle. "Never have I ever, ridden a motorbike, because _somebody_ won't let me," she finished, glaring at Harry teasingly.

"What?" he defended himself. "Sirius' bike isn't fixed yet." Ron rolled his eyes at them. Harry, Dean, and surprisingly, Lavender, drank.

"Okay. I guess it's me then," Harry shrugged. "Never have I ever liked my uncle," he said, a smirk on his face. Everybody except for him, Hermione, and Lavender drank.

He looked at them. "We don't have any uncles," Hermione told him.

"Right."

Neville spoke up next, "My turn. Never have I ever had a full blown snog," he said confidently. Everybody else in the room stared at him before, one at a time, taking a drink. "What?" he asked. "Luna's my first actual girlfriend, and our first date was really only tonight." Everybody in the room seemed to shrug in unison.

Dean broke the silence, "Me now." A mischievous smile came over his face. Ginny had a bad feeling about this one. "Never have I ever, been past second base." Ron and Hermione gave each other one nervous look before grabbing their glasses in unison, and drinking. Ron drank a little bit longer than usual. Everybody was staring at them.

"Oh, don't act so surprised," Hermione said, scoffing at Ginny. Ginny smirked at her.

"Honestly, I'm just glad that your and Harry's glasses aren't lighting up right now," Ron said to her. Everybody laughed at this and the lighthearted atmosphere was back. They kept it up for another hour or so. But, by two in the morning, they were all exhausted, not to mention slightly drunk, and decided that they really should head to bed.

"See you all tomorrow," Harry said, then looked at the clock. "Or later today I guess." he said following Ginny down the stairs to the common room. They had a drawn out goodnight snog in the now empty common room.

Harry finally backed away, his fingers still in her hair, which was still wavy from its braid earlier. Maybe there was a benefit of that braid, after all.

"Let's sleep in here tonight," Ginny suggested, pointing to a couch by the fire.

"Why not," Harry shrugged, his sluggish brain not thinking about how Ron would react when he found them in the morning. He conjured a comforter before taking hold of Ginny and lying down on the couch, his arms wound around her.

"I could get used to this," she mumbled tiredly.

"So could I," Harry said before falling asleep, his arms still wrapped around her, and his nose breathing the sweet smell wafting from her hair.

* * *

Did you like? If you did, review! If you didn't, reivew anyway! Constructive critisism is always good, and the reviews will remind me to write and update faster, which is always a good thing. Please keep reading and reviewing, and I promise to keep writing and updating.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone! Yay, it's been just over two weeks. That's my fastest update in a while, which is kind of sad. Oh well. It's February break here in Massachusetts hopefully that means more updates or maybe a one-shot. Let's hope that I don't get lazy. Hope you like this chapter. Lots of snogging for you to read about!

~Robin

Disclaimer: If JKR was a teen-age girl who lived in Massachusetts there would be a slim possibility that I was her, but since she isn't, then there is no possibility. It's too bad, isn't it?

_

* * *

Chapter 7_

_November 2nd 1998_

Harry was extremely comfortable. His bed was warm and there was another source of warmth in front of him. He moved his head forward, closer to the warmth and met hair. He opened his eyes and saw the beautiful red hair of Ginny Weasley spread out in front of him. That is when he noticed his headache, and the memory of the night before came rushing back. He opened his eyes wider to see the early morning light coming through the windows of the Gryffindor common room. Nobody was else up yet. It was Sunday, and people were probably going to be sleeping late after the party last night. He pulled Ginny closer to him, breathed in the sent of her hair (which was still wavy from the braid the night before) and quickly fell back to sleep.

It was two hours later when they were both rudely awoken by a shout of shock and anger. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH MY SISTER!" Ron's angry voice shouted from the bottom of the staircase to the boys' dormitories.

Harry and Ginny both jerked awake, their blanket falling off of them, and Harry promptly fell off of the couch they had been sleeping on. Ginny stayed on and rubbed her eyes, looking groggy.

Harry was groggy from sleep, and stupidly answered, "Sleeping..."

"What the hell, Harry!" Ron said, but quieter this time. He was seething. "I come down here to find the two of you cuddled up on the couch, completely wound up in each other! I thought I could trust you."

"Ron, we didn't do anything," Ginny said, now also awake. "We only slept, and you can trust Harry. Plus, I can take care of myself," she added, standing up.

"Gin, it's not that I don't trust Harry, or that I don't believe that you can't take care of yourself," he added quickly, seeing her glare, "it's just what everybody else would say if they saw you sleeping together." Then Ron looked appalled by what he had said.

"Then they'd be complete idiots. We're wearing all of our clothing," Harry said, blushing a brilliant red. Then the thought of Ginny in no clothing appeared in his mind and he quickly started to think about quidditch.

"But, you could have put it back on," Ron countered weakly.

Ginny rolled her eyes and sighed. "Ron, we aren't having sex," she said bluntly. Harry and Ron both blushed scarlet at her words, but Ron also seemed to be calming down. "And if you would actually use your brain, you would remember that Harry and I haven't gone past second base, unlike you, I might add," she reminded him.

"Oh, right." It was Ron's turn to blush.

"Then I think you owe us an apology," Ginny stated.

"Right, sorry," Ron muttered.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I'm off to shower and change for the day," she finished, whisking around, her hair flying behind her as she spun off towards the girls' dormitories.

"Sorry about that, mate," Ron said, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's all right. I probably would have assumed that same thing if you were in bed with Hermione," Harry said, patting him on the shoulder.

Ron looked confused. "Well how's that supposed to work?"

"Hermione's like my sister," Harry told him simply.  
Then a mass of person hit him from the side. "Do you really think that, Harry?" Hermione's voice asked. She was hugging him tightly.

"Of course I do," Harry said bemusedly. "Why would I have said it if I didn't?"

"To get help on your homework," Hermione teased.

"Oh, well now that I think about it..." he said, but stopped seeing her glare. "I was just teasing," he said.

"I know," she said cheerily, "but I like to see you squirm." Harry stuck his tongue out at her before heading up to his dorm to shower before they went down for breakfast.

* * *

_November 7th 1998_

"Let's work some more on that new maneuver from Wednesday!" Harry called out to the chasers.

They immediately turned together, forming a wedge shape, and rocketed off towards the goals that Ron was hovering in front of. Harry saw Ron lick his lips nervously, but he didn't take his eyes off of Ginny, who was in the lead and holding the quaffle. She passed it back to Demelza, who switched positions with Dean, then passed the ball back to Ginny, who passed it to Dean. They were at the goals now, and Ron was concentrating hard.

They passed it between them as fast as they could, before Demelza (who was now in front) took quick aim at the left goalpost and let it fly. Ron shot off as fast as he could, but Harry saw the quaffle go right through his fingers. He flew over to give them feedback.

"That was brilliant, guys," he told them, grinning. "Even Ron, who's seen the move several times before, wasn't able to keep track of the movement of the quaffle between you. We're a sure win over Ravenclaw next weekend!"

"We are doing pretty good, aren't we?" Ron said confidently. Harry had a feeling that Ron's change in attitude had a lot to do with Hermione, not to mention helping to save the world, and Harry was extremely pleased that his keeper was now confident enough to believe in himself and start saving goals. If they had another season like in sixth year... well it would have been bad, to say the least.

They ran through the drill a few more times until it was too dark to see. Harry guessed that it was probably around nine o'clock and they needed to wrap up. He also wanted some time with Ginny.

"All right guys. Practice is over for today!" Harry called out to the team. Dennis and Peakes (the beaters) were practicing their aim on a target they had set up earlier. It was looking a little beat up now from all the bludger hits, but they were all very close to the center, so Harry was happy. Plus, they could always repair the target, or get a new one. It was better to have a beat-up target with lots of hits, than one that didn't get any hits on it. It showed that his beaters were actually good.

"Good job today guys," he said to his beaters. "Next time we'll enchant the targets to move so you can practice on a moving target instead." He then turned to talk to the whole team. "Ravenclaw's team isn't looking too good this year, so I don't think that we have too much to worry about. They have a good keeper, and one of their chasers is brilliant, but without the rest of the team being terrific, they won't have a chance."

"We'll win this for sure, Harry," Dennis told him. He smiled at the fifth year, who was really a different person from his older brother.

"Yeah, Dennis. I'm pretty sure about that," Harry told him. "Good work everyone. Next practice is after dinner on Monday."

The team all touched down and went to the locker rooms to shower and change before they went back up to the castle.

After they had all showered, and joined back up in the changing room, they teased and joked around some, splashing each other with the water from their hair, or throwing the wet towels at each other. Soon, everybody had left except for Harry and Ginny. Even Ron had left, probably to find Hermione. Harry was surprised that he had been willing to leave Harry and Ginny alone for a possibility of more than a minute

"Hey, Gin. You ready to go?" Harry asked. He didn't see her in the main room and thought that she might have been in the bathroom or putting her broom away.

What he didn't expect was for her arms to snake around his waist from behind and pull him backwards. "But it's so nice in here. Nobody here to bother us. Ron is gone, left to find Hermione. We're all alone," she whispered seductively into his ear, while stroking his chest with her fingertips.

"We have work to do, though," Harry said weakly. Yeah, he had wanted alone time with Ginny, but he would prefer it to be somewhere else.

"It's a Friday. We have all weekend for work, and no practice again until Monday. We've got plenty of time," she said. She was now in front of him, as close as possible. That was when he noticed that she was only wearing sweatpants and a sports bra.

"Gin," he moaned.

"Yes?" she asked innocently, breathing onto his face. Their lips were so close and she quickly closed the distance between them.

He immediately forgot why he had been so reluctant. His lips moved with hers, his hands tracing circles on her bare stomach. One of her hands wound itself into his hair and pulled gently, causing Harry to moan. He moved one of his hands up to her bra, cupping her breast. She moaned this time and moved hers to the hem of his shirt. She pulled it upwards and their lips disconnected so that he could pull it off over his head. It lay discarded off to the side as they pressed even more firmly together. Her legs wrapped around his waist until he was fully supporting her weight as their tongues danced between their mouths.

Her sweet taste was filling his mouth, but his lungs began to burn and he came up for air. She quickly recaptured his mouth and their tongues wound and danced even more. Then she released his lips, instead kissing his chest and neck. Quidditch had done him well, and she had never been more grateful for its existence. He brought her lips back up to his again and kissed her even more forcefully, bringing her up against the wall. When she started gasping for air he released her lips and kissed her neck and collarbone, eliciting moans from her until she pulled his head back up to her mouth.

Harry didn't know how much longer they were snogging, but he heard the door slam open and a "BLOODY HELL!" from a familiar voice.

Harry immediately took his mouth off of Ginny's, backed up from the wall, and put Ginny down. She looked unabashedly into the face of her older brother. In fact, she looked angry. "What, Ronald? I'm not aloud to snog my boyfriend anymore?" she asked him. She was using a very calm voice that Harry recognized as a bad sign. Ginny was always more angry when she didn't sound like it.

"NOT LIKE THAT!" Ron roared, glaring at Harry.

"Ron, in case you haven't noticed, we still have most of our clothing on," Harry pointed out. This was apparently a bad idea, as Ron now took the time to notice that Harry had no shirt, and Ginny had only her sports bra on on top.

"Your only wearing a bra," Ron yelped, turning to Ginny.

"Yes, and it's a sports bra," she said. "It covers a lot more than most do. Plus, I'm sure you've been around when Hermione is wearing less than this, SO STOP BEING SUCH A BLOODY HYPOCRITE!" Ginny yelled the last bit, shaking with her anger, and reaching for her wand.

Ron saw this movement and backed up. He looked scared, and Harry didn't blame him. Ginny was formidable at most times, but when she was angry, that was bad news for whoever she was angry with. "I-I'll just g-go then," Ron finished, before running out the door.

"Now, where were we then?" Ginny asked, turning back to Harry.

"Gin, maybe we should go back," Harry said slowly.

"Don't worry. He won't come back. He knows to stay away when I'm mad" she reassured him, but he wasn't convinced. Unfortunately for Harry's control, she pounced on him again and continued to snog him senseless. He was forced (not all-that unwillingly) to respond just as enthusiastically. He was a teen-age boy, after all, even if he was the savior of the wizarding world.

* * *

Ron was still trying to shake the image of his sister's legs wrapped around his best mate's waist, but couldn't manage it. It just kept coming back. Even as he stepped through the portrait hole and sat down next to Hermione the image was still burned into his retinas. "Ugh. They're always snogging," he complained.

"They're a couple. They snog," Hermione said, not even needing to ask who he was talking about. Ginny and Harry were the only couple he ever complained about snogging.

"Yeah, but they don't have to do it in public," he moaned.

"Where did you just find them?" Hermione asked, turning to face her boyfriend.

"In the Gryffindor changing room," he said.

"Ron! That is not a public place! It was probably empty and then you decided that they had been gone too long and went to find them! Didn't you?" she yelled.

Ron shrunk visibly under her glare. "Well, maybe," he started, "but I also forgot my keeping gloves," he added, after seeing the anger rising in her eyes. It may have looked damn sexy, but he didn't want his face and arms to be pecked by a bunch a manic birds that she conjured and set on him like she had in sixth year. He had been forced to go to the hospital wing to get them all healed.

"Ronald," she complained, "you are such an idiot." But, luckily for Ron, the anger was now gone from her eyes. "I know somewhere much more public anyway," she said, leaning in to kiss him. He wanted to insist that they go somewhere else, but as always, the feel of her lips on his left him speechless and unable to form coherent thoughts.

"Mmm, Hermione," he groaned as he pushed her down onto the couch, still in full sight of a room full of spectators, most of whom were ignoring them.

* * *

Harry broke his lips away from Ginny and looked at the clock. "Crap, Gin! It's almost ten!" he shouted.

"But that means we have to go back," she whined.

Harry laughed at his girlfriend, who was currently crushed between him and a wall of lockers. "Yeah, but don't worry, we can take snog breaks on our way up," he promised, still chortling.

"Ah, you come up with the best ideas," she told him, kissing him gently once more before he stepped back. They located pulled on their shirts, wanting to look presentable while walking through the castle. It wasn't a good idea to walk shirt-less through the corridors with Filch on the prowl.

"Let's go," Harry said, reaching for her hand. She took it and they slowly walked back up to the castle.

They snogged under a tree for a minute at one point, and then a little in the entrance hall. Then they reached one of the secret corridors and Harry pushed Ginny up against the wall, crushing his lips to hers. Their tongues were touching almost immediately and their hands were up each other's shirts within a minute.

Then, Harry heard a noise. It was a kind of shuffling, coming from one end of the passage-way. "Shit. We've got to run, Gin. That sounds like Filch," he said, breaking away from her.

She listened for a second. "Damn. You're right. Let's go," she said, pulling him down to the other end.

"I'm always right," Harry said cheekily.

"Prat," Ginny said, smacking the back of his head. "Now let's go."

"Um, maybe I should lead," Harry suggested. Ginny had just lead them closer to the sounds of footsteps, and Harry swore that he had seen Mrs. Norris disappear around a corner. "I know more of the secret passage-ways."

"Right, that's the only reason," she smirked.

"While, I think you're bringing us closer to Filch, Gin," he said carefully.

"Oops," she said, giggling slightly.

As Harry lead them through the winding corridors of the castle and up several staircases, they stayed as completely silent as possible, not wanting to catch Filch's attention again. After a few minutes of walking through the winding passages of Hogwarts, they reached the Fat Lady's portrait, said the password (Wulfric) and hurried inside.

Harry quickly scanned the room, looking for Ron and Hermione. He didn't notice them until he and Ginny got close to their usual couch looked over the edge of it. They were snogging. Passionately. "Well look who's a bloody hypocrite," Harry said smugly.

Ron and Hermione's lips separated with what Harry was certain must have been a quiet squelching noise. "Shove off, mate," Ron grumbled, but he sat up, pulling Hermione up with him. She cuddled against his chest.

"Well at least we weren't in public view of all of Gryffindor," Ginny snorted scathingly.

"What can you do?" Ron shrugged. "You just wish that I would stop walking in on you."

"Really. What gave you that idea?" Ginny asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Please stop arguing. Ron promises not to try to find you when he thinks that you two are snogging, if you promise not to snog so much in public," Hermione, ever the one for compromises, suggested.

"Fine," both Ron and Ginny said at the same time. Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes at them.

"Alright. Should we do some work before we go to bed?" Ginny asked.

"Nah. We've got all weekend," Ron said, yawning. "I'm going to bed. Your practice tired me out," he accused Harry.

"Yeah, and maybe snogging Hermione," Harry muttered to him. Ron just shrugged, grinning.

"You two are impossible," Hermione sighed.

"But you love us anyway," Harry said cheekily.

"I suppose I do," she admitted. "Now why don't you go to bed so Ginny and I can have so girl talk?"

"Well, if the other option is girl talk, I think I will opt for bed," Harry grimaced. "Night, Gin," he said, kissing her lightly.

"Night. Love you," she told him.

"Love you too."

"Alright, enough gooey stuff. Let's just go to bed," Ron groaned.

"You didn't have to wait for me," Harry huffed as he followed Ron up to their dormitory.

"I didn't want it to go too far," Ron said. Harry punched him in the arm and Ron grinned at him.

"You're a git, you know that?" Harry asked.

"Sure do," Ron nodded.

"Ugh," Harry groaned. "Just go to bed," he said, starting to change into his pajamas.

"Will do," Ron said, waving as he hopped into bed. Harry just rolled his eyes at his best mate's antics. They were best mates, but Ron really did get downright annoying sometimes.

* * *

"Good job getting rid of the guys, Hermione," Ginny said. "Are you ready for our almost-weekly girl time now?"

"I'm always ready." Hermione laughed at Ginny's name for what she just considered 'girl time'.

"Okay then, so what's up with you and Ron?" Ginny asked.

Hermione blushed.

"What did you two do?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"Oh, alright, come here," Hermione said, gesturing to her and looking around the room. She leaned over to Ginny, cupped her hands around the other girls ear, and breathed, "he saw me without my bra on."

"No way!" Ginny shouted.

"Shut up," Hermione groaned, pressing her face into a pillow. "And yes, he did."

"Did he seem happy?" Ginny asked curiously.

"I suppose so. He wouldn't stop staring," Hermione shrugged.

"That would be a yes then," Ginny smirked.

Hermione rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "What have you and Harry done recently?"

"Not much," Ginny shrugged. "Snogging, talking, more snogging, our usual. Um, we slept on the couch together the night after the dance," Ginny said.

"So that's why Ron was so angry," Hermione groaned.

"I guess so," Ginny shrugged. "Hear anything about Parvati and Dean lately?"

"Not really. I'm not that much of a gossip, so I don't talk to her and Lavender much. They gossip way too much in my opinion," Hermione complained.

"Well thank god you aren't that bad," Ginny said. "If you were, I don't know if I could stand being friends with you."

"Ugh. Same to you," Hermione said, giggling. "I can't stand the girls who just sit around giggling and gossiping about other girls all day."

"You realize that that's basically exactly what we're doing right now," Ginny pointed out.

"Of course, but we don't do this all the time," Hermione said defensively.

"I know," Ginny shrugged. She leaned back into her armchair, head on one arm, the crook of her knees over the other. "I'm exhausted," she yawned.

"You could go to sleep you know," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"I think I might," Ginny said, standing up. "You coming?"

"Nah. I want to finish this essay for Snape," Hermione said, leaning over a piece of parchment on the paper and picking up her quill.

"Only you would want to finish an essay due the next Thursday on the Friday night after it was assigned," Ginny said, rolling her eyes before covering another yawn.

Hermione stuck her tongue out at Ginny. "Think of it this way. If I finish it now, I get to sleep late tomorrow and then sit around well the rest of you finish it and bother you," she explained.

"Okay, when you put it that way it sounds sort of fun, but _I'm_ tired and am going to go to sleep," Ginny said pointedly.

"Night, then," Hermione said, looking back to her essay and crossing few words out.

Ginny thought for a second until a truly evil and delicious thought crept into her head. "Hey," she started to ask, "do you think I could sneak into bed with Harry?"

Hermione looked at her, eyebrows raised. "You just want to bother Ron, don't you?"

"Well, partially," Ginny started and Hermione smirked, "but I also like sleeping next to Harry. It's... nice."

"Right," Hermione said, still smirking.

"Oh shut up," Ginny said, blushing. "I'm going up. You have fun finishing your essay."

"I will. You have fun with Harry," Hermione said vaguely.

"I will," Ginny promised, heading for the boys' staircase.

Ginny walked quietly up the spiraling stairway, and opened the door slowly. Their were only three beds with people in them. Ron's, Harry's, and Seamus'. Neville and Dean were probably hanging out with their respective girlfriends. She tip-toed over to Harry's bed, carefully avoiding the piles of dirty clothes and trash scattered around the room and stopped by the edge of the bed. She carefully pulled back the bed clothes before climbing in in front of Harry. She was very pleased to find that his arms automatically reached around her and pulled her back against his chest, spooning her. She snuggled even deeper into his embrace, and closed her eyes. She was asleep within minutes, a listless smile gracing her lips.

She didn't care if Ron found them that way, she realized. After all, this was, most definitely, the best way to sleep.

In fact, when Ron did find them in the morning, he wasn't really that mad. He grumbled a bit, sure. He had to show the protective older brother side, but he wasn't angry. For one thing, he knew that Harry hadn't invited her up, since he was just as surprised to find her there as Ron was. For another, he was actually a little upset that he didn't have the guts to climb into bed with Hermione, even though his sister obviously had the guts to join Harry. He did, however, write to his brothers about it.

* * *

Well wasn't that a fun chapter? I just love the sibling drama. It's fun to write arguments, and I'm pretty good at it if I do say so myself. (It's probably because I have lots of them, being an argumentative person.) Please review and tell me what you think. And keep an eye on my page, I might have a new little something up for you soon!

Oh, and a fun fact: My brother bought a hamster today! I came up with the name Sock for her, but then accidentally called her Scout. So now, her name is Scout.


	8. Chapter 8

Hello everybody. I'm back for another update! I've actually had this chapter for a few days, but I wanted to wait until I had a certain number of hits just so that I could say to you...

OMG! I have FIVE THOUSAND HITS on this story! I'm so psyched! It's amazing, fantabulous, ! Aaaaaaaah! (That was a scream of joy.) I just have one question for you all... How come I've got five thousand hits, but only over thirty favorites, over thirty alerts, and just over twenty reviews? Please, please review. And yes, I'm begging. They make me want to write more.

Anyway, this is a fun chapter, at least to write. I hope you enjoy it.

~Robin

Disclaimer: I live in the U.S. Isn't that enough evidence that I am NOT J.K. Rowling?

_

* * *

Chapter 8_

_November 15th 1998_

"You ready to go?" Harry asked Ginny.

"Yup. You ready to see Teddy again?" she asked him.

"Of course. I'm always ready to see my godson," Harry told her, faking hurt that she had asked.

"Oh, come on, you big baby. Let's go," Ginny said, taking his hand and leading him out of the portrait hole.

"Hey! Are you two leaving without us?" Harry heard from behind them as he started to close the Fat Lady's portrait. He opened it up again and saw Ron and Hermione rushing towards them across the common room. Ron had obviously been the one who had shouted, as Harry saw some of the younger students giving him strange looks. The older ones were already used to the fact the Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny hardly ever did things separately, unless they were apart as two couples, or the boys were hanging out while the girls chatted. Basically, they understood that a member of the foursome could usually be found with at least one other member of the foursome.

"So you two are finally ready to go, then?" Ginny questioned, snickering.

"Yep, now move so we can get out. You're blocking the exit," Ron said rudely. Harry and Ginny moved to the side as Ron and Hermione climbed out. Harry really just wanted some alone time with Ginny, but ditching his two best friends just seemed cruel. Then he got an idea. A brilliant idea that would give him much more alone time with Ginny than just the walk into Hogsmeade.

"Hey, do you two want to take Teddy for the afternoon so Ginny and I can go on an actual date?" Harry asked them.

"You mean other than snogging in hidden corners of the castle," Ron muttered under his breath.

Hermione cut him off. "We'd love to," she gushed. "I haven't seen him in so long. He must be getting so big..."

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said, hugging her. Harry cheered silently inside his head, while Ron looked slightly bemused at her behavior.

The four of them walked down to the village and went their separate ways, for the time being. Harry and Ginny went to meet Molly at the Three Broomsticks and Hermione and Ron went into a bookstore that Hermione had been yearning to go to since she had heard about its opening a few weeks earlier.

When Harry and Ginny arrived in the pub they immediately spotted Molly, Teddy in her arms, across the room, waiting for them to arrive.

"Hi Mum," Ginny said, hugging her mother.

"Hello Ginny, Harry dear. Thank you so much for taking Teddy today. I really do like the little breaks you two give me," Molly replied.

"It's our pleasure, Molly," Harry told her, grinning.

"Oh, well I guess I'll see you two later when I come to pick Teddy up then," she said, handing Teddy to Harry.

"Ron and Hermione are actually going to take him for the afternoon so that we don't have to watch him all day." Ginny told her of their change in plans.

"Oh, well that will be fine, then. You two have fun, dears," Molly said, kissing each of their cheeks before leaving the pub.

"I think that she really likes these breaks. She treasures them," Harry grinned.

"You think?" Ginny asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Let's just go," Harry groaned, not in the mood to be teased, even by his girlfriend.

"Alright then. Where do you want to go first?"

"Um, nowhere in particular, you?" Harry asked.

"Let's just wander around some," Ginny suggested, shrugging.

"Sounds fine by me," Harry agreed, leading Ginny out onto the main street once more.

They went into a few shops, but didn't really buy much. Harry bought Teddy a wolf stuffed animal that Teddy wouldn't let go of after he saw it and picked it up, and he bought Ginny a book that she thought sounded interesting. He and Ginny also bought more parchment, ink, and quills, along with refills on potion ingredients that they needed for class. Seventh year was quickly eating up their supplies. They would probably have to buy more during the Christmas holidays.

A few minutes before noon, they started heading back to the Three Broomsticks to meet Ron and Hermione and hand Teddy off to them.

When they arrived, they saw not only Ron and Hermione sitting at a booth, but also George. "Hey George," Harry said, as he and Ginny slid into one side of the booth.

"Hey Harry, Gin," he said.

"What are you in Hogsmeade for?" Ginny asked curiously, handing Teddy to Hermione so that her arms could have a break. She had been carrying him, at her own insistence, for most of the morning, even thought Harry had kept saying that if she was tired he would be glad to carry him. She had stubbornly refused.

"I am glad that you asked me that," George responded cheerily. "You see, I'm here to find premises for a WWW in Hogsmeade, so that we can sell all the students, like you four, our products on the weekends. Isn't that just a grand-spankingly, brilliant idea?"

"Yeah, except that your products are banned at the school," Ron pointed out.

"And when has that ever stopped anyone from using something, Ron?" George asked him, grinning brightly. When Ron didn't respond, George smacked him on the shoulder. "Exactly! It doesn't. In fact, people tend to buy the banned products more than the allowed ones. It's like more advertising, but we don't have to pay for it."

"Well it sounds like business is doing well then," Hermione said, taking the attention away from her grateful boyfriend.

"Yup. Business is just spanking," George told them.

"Oh. How are you and Katie doing?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"We're doing great. Haven't had a big fight yet," George told her.

"Well, it's bound to happen soon then," Ron chortled. "Nobody can stand you for very long before they find something to argue with you about. Well, except for Fred."

"I take offense to that," George huffed. "And what's going on with you all?"

"Not much. Did Ginny tell you about the Halloween dance?" Harry asked him.

"Of course she did. She blabbered on about it endlessly in her letter." Ginny glared at her brother. George seemed to notice and quickly started to speak again. "But the more interesting thing was what Ron told me. He says that he found Ginny and Harry asleep together in the common room the next morning..."

"Ron. Do you have to go blabbing about everything?" Ginny groaned.

"I'm your brother. I'm just making sure that the rest of our brothers know," Ron said defensively.

"You told all of them!" Ginny groaned again. "You know how protective Charlie is! He might kill Harry!"

"Frankly, I think that I might," George said, nodding at Harry. Harry gulped uncomfortably.

"Oh, don't you even start, George Weasley! You are a filthy hypocrite, and if you even touch Harry, I will hex you so many times that even Mum won't recognize you. Besides, I've got dirt on you that could outdo anything you could _ever_ get on me," Ginny warned him menacingly. Her hexing abilities were quite well-known, especially to her older brothers. Harry knew that all of them had been at the wrong side of her wand at some time in the past.

George gulped fearfully. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" she replied, eyebrows raised.

George quickly changed the subject to new joke products they had been testing lately, and they chatted for a little longer before George said he had to rush off to some meeting or another and Harry and Ginny decided to leave. The point of the Teddy swap was to have time alone, after all. Hermione and Ron stayed a little longer with Teddy and talked to some of the other people in the pub.

"So what dirt do you have on him?" Harry asked curiously as they walked down the main street. He was not only curious as to what George had done, but also as to how Ginny had found out about it. She could be quite sneaky when she wanted to be, but George was too.

"Nothing specific, but he has a few nights that he blacked out because of too much liqueur, so I could always invent something and he won't remember whether it happened or not," she said, smirking.

"You are pure evil," Harry said, impressed despite himself. He _really_ had to remember not to get on her bad side. It could end very badly for him, indeed.

"And you love me anyway."

"I sure do," he chuckled.

As Harry and Ginny wandered around more, they snogged a little bit, happy to have no Ron breathing down their neck, and looked into the shops, occasionally actually going inside to peruse whatever they were selling. At one point, Harry had to forcefully drag Ginny away from the litter of kittens that were at the pet shop, and she had to pull him away from the Quidditch supply store. She liked Quidditch, but she didn't want to stay in that one shop all afternoon, even if Harry did.

At four o'clock, they decided to head back up to the castle, as it was starting to get colder and darker outside. By the time they got back to the common room, almost everybody was back and staying comfortably warm by the fire before dinner. Even though it was only mid-November the castle was already beginning to get cold. Harry wondered to himself when they would get the first big snowfall. There had already been a few nights where the next morning, the castle lawns had been covered in frost, and the grass had crunched under their feet.

After a nice, but normal dinner, they settled down to do some homework before heading to bed. Ginny, to Ron's dismay, told Harry, "Let me just put my PJ's on and get ready, then I'll come join you," before kissing his cheek and turning away.

"Why do you have to stay in bed with him?" he complained.

"Oh, Ron. We all know that you're just jealous because you don't have the guts to go up to Hermione's room," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

"I'll show you," he muttered, his ears turning red.

"Then get changed and go up to her room," Ginny told him, rolling her eyes.

"I think I will," Ron said, rushing off to the boys' stairs before realizing that Harry wasn't following him. He turned around and asked confusedly, "Coming, Harry?"

"Yup, coming," Harry told him, rolling his eyes at Ginny before following his best mate up to their room.

"I'm impressed," he told Ron as they changed. "You're finally actually going to sleep in the same bed as Hermione. If she wasn't like my sister I'd be psyched for you. Instead, I'm having disgusting images swirling through my head."

"Yeah, now you know how I feel half the time," Ron grumbled. That's how he had felt ever since the summer before fifth year, when he had discovered that Ginny was dating Corner.

"I suppose I do," Harry agreed, chuckling darkly.

There was a knock on the door and Harry went to let Ginny in. "Hey," he said, kissing her sweetly.

"Mmmm. You know I love kissing you, but do you want to actually let me in?" she asked him.

"I could do that," Harry laughed, standing aside so that she could walk past him into the room.

"Hey Ginny," Neville greeted her from where he was doing homework on his bed.

"Hey Nev," she said before walking over to Harry's bed.

All of the seventh-year boys in Gryffindor were used to Ginny coming to sleep in there, as she had been coming in almost every night for a week, but they didn't make any changes to their habits. There was still dirty clothing and garbage everywhere, and the smell of teenage boy lingered in the air. Ginny kind of liked that though. It made her feel accepted by them. That she wasn't somebody they particularly felt to be an outsider.

"Weren't you going, Ron?" she asked when she had reached the four-poster and Ron was still standing by the door.

"Right," he mumbled. "Night." He walked out and left the door to swing shut behind him.

Harry moved over to his bed and pulled the blankets back, allowing Ginny to climb underneath first before he got in behind her. In the small bed, they had to cuddle pretty close together (not that he minded), so he immediately snaked his arms around her thin waist and pulled her back against him. She cuddled even closer, the warmth of her body a comforting sensation in front of, and they both quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

_November 22nd 1998_

Ginny opened her eyes to the early-morning sunlight streaming through the windows of the boys dormitory. She had taken to sleeping in there almost every night now. Then she bolted straight upright. Today was the first Quidditch game of the season. They were playing against Ravenclaw. She heard Harry groan behind her and roll over. Unfortunately for him, he rolled off of the edge of the bed and into the closed curtains.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," she said in a sing-song voice, looking down over the edge of the bed that Harry had just fallen over.

"Don't laugh at me," Harry pouted, pushing himself up.

"Considering you just fell out of bed, I think I have a right to laugh," Ginny pointed out.

"Ugh. Help me up?" Harry asked.

"I suppose I could do that," Ginny told him, holding out her hand.

Harry took it and pulled himself into a sitting position before untangling himself from the hangings and standing up. He stretched and went to sit on the bed next to his girlfriend, kissing her gently on the lips. She groaned, deepening the kiss.

They never had any luck though, because at that moment Ron chose to walk in. "Ugh. Can you stop doing that?" he complained.

"Well nobody else was awake," Ginny huffed, leaned her head on Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah, well we should be getting ready for breakfast anyway," Harry said, shrugging.

"Yeah. I'll go change and stuff then meet you at breakfast with Hermione," Ginny agreed, standing up on the bed before hopping lightly down onto the floor.

"See you at breakfast, Gin," Harry said as she walked out. She gave him a wave in reply, already walking down the staircase.

She quickly changed into jeans and pulled on a sweatshirt. (She had proper clothes to wear under her Quidditch robes in her locker down at the pitch.) She then met Hermione up in her room before the two girls went down to breakfast.

By the time they reached the great hall, Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had already chosen seats. Ginny sat in between Harry and Demelza, while Hermione sat down across from her.

Everybody quickly ate before heading down to the changing rooms. The time before the first Quidditch match was always tense, but it was worse than usual this morning. Probably because none of them had really played for two years, as the tournament hadn't been played the year before.

Ginny pulled on the leggings and t-shirt she always wore under her robes before strapping her protective padding on. She pulled on the knee-pads, shin-guards, and wrist-guards, along with her boots and long, fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows. She pulled on her robes and carefully tied the front before grabbing her broom from the broom closet.

By the time she had grabbed hers, everybody else was dressed and ready to play.

Harry stood in front of them all and met their eyes. "I'm not really one for speeches," he started, "but I feel like I'm supposed to be making one right now." Ron snickered slightly at that, but quickly silenced himself. "Anyway, this should be our easiest match this year, but don't think that means you can just sit back and relax. Play your hardest, and I know we can win."

Harry stepped down from the bench he had been standing on and made his way towards Ginny. "Good luck," she said when he was standing in front of her. She stood on her tip-toes to gently kiss him.

Harry grinned down at her. "You too."

Ginny heard the whistle blow and they walked out of the room, single-file, and onto the field. The whooping of the crowd was echoing loudly in her ears as she quickly took in the conditions. It was cloudy, but didn't look like it would rain, so there would be good visibility, and it hadn't rained for a while, so the ground was still relatively hard.

She heard Madame Hooch have the captains shake hands, and saw Harry go up to meet the Ravenclaw team captain (a fifth year she didn't know), before returning back to where his team was waiting.

"MOUNT YOUR BROOMS," came the call, and Ginny kicked her leg over her broom handle. The whistle blew and she pushed off the ground hard, racing into the cool, November air. Once in the air, all of her nerves were gone, flying away from her as she focused on the game.

The quaffle was thrown up and she raced to catch it, barely ahead of one of the Ravenclaw chasers. She went speeding off towards the other end of the pitch.

"AND GINNY WEASLEY WITH THE QUAFFLE," came from the announcer's box.

"SHE PASSES TO ROBINS, WHO PASSES TO THOMAS, WHO PASSES BACK TO WEASLEY! THEY APPROACH THE KEEPER, AND SHE SCORES!" The cheers of the Gryffindors almost drowned out the last word. "TEN, NIL TO GRYFFINDOR!"

The game went on for a short while. For the next forty minutes, Ginny barely registered what the crowd was doing, completely focused on the game. Her eyes were for the quaffle and the goal hoops only. She seemed to sense the bludgers rather than see them, and had no trouble with throwing or catching the quaffle. She was on the top of her game.

Several times, Ginny saw Harry flying around above the rest of the match, searching for the snitch, but didn't focus on him for long. She was too busy trying to score as many goals as possible, and trying to stop the other chasers from getting anywhere near Ron's end of the field. Not that it was completely necessary that day. Ron had blocked all but five of the other team's shots. He was playing well. She ripped her thoughts away from the other players and focused on the bright red ball that was coming towards her once more before catching and speeding of to the other end of the pitch once more.

"AND GINNY WEASLEY WITH THE QUAFFLE! SHE'S SPEEDING TOWARDS THE GOAL POSTS... AND I DON'T BELIEVE IT! SHE HAS SCORED ONCE AGAIN!"

The crowd of red and gold cheered, drowning out all other sound for miles around.

It wasn't until after she and Dean had each scored twenty more points, and Demelza had scored thirty when she heard the first, and only, mention of Harry from the announcer since they had all taken to the air.

"AND POTTER SEEMS TO HAVE SEEN SOMETHING! HE'S RUSHING TOWARDS THE GROUND IN A BRILLIANT DIVE AND-YES-I DON'T BELIEVE IT! POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY TO FIFTY GRYFFINDOR! WHAT A BLOW-OUT!"

Ginny raced to where her boyfriend was standing on the ground, eyes blazing. When Harry turned to her, still holding the snitch in his hand, and pulled her right up to him, she kissed him in front of the entire school. The rest of the team crashed into them and pulled them apart, smothering them in a group hug instead. It was their first win of the season, and it felt good.

The team lowered to the ground as a group and joined the spectators that were now rushing onto the field. Hermione found Harry, Ron, and Ginny quickly and hugged them all before kissing Ron in the mass of people, who were completely oblivious due to their happiness.

"Party in the Gryffindor common room!" Dean called before he went to the locker room to change.

"I'll meet you all up there," Hermione said, as Harry, Ginny, and Ron went off to get changed and showered. Ginny waved in response as she was swept off between her boyfriend and brother, who had each grabbed one of her arms and, as they were much taller than she was, picked her up of the ground, carrying her to the locker rooms.

"Let me down, you gits," she said, hitting them each on the back of their heads.

"If you say so," Harry said, sighing dramatically. He and Ron lowered her back down and let go of her arms.

Then Harry grabbed her arm again and kissed her, ignoring the fact that Ron was standing right there. Ginny melted into him and they kissed until a clearing throat brought them out of their reverie.

Demelza was standing in the entrance, laughing, well Ron looked like he was trying to ignore them as much as possible, and the other three had already hit the showers, and so missed Harry and Ginny's public display of affection.

"Sorry. Got a bit carried away," Harry said, rubbing the back of his head where Ginny had hit him earlier. Ginny laughed and kissed him quickly again before heading to one of the open showers. She washed quickly, using a charm to dry herself off before pulling a t-shirt and jeans on.

Once changed, she met Harry, Ron, and Demelza, who were all finishing packing their equipment away, and headed back up to the castle.

They were in a high fit of game-winning happiness and needed to work off their extra energy with the celebration that was surely already in full swing at Gryffindor tower.

By the time they arrived there was already loud music and people talking, but to Ron's obvious disappointment, no food or drink. "What kind of party has no food," Ginny heard him grumble before he left through the portrait hole again.

"Where's he off to?" Ginny asked Harry curiously.

"Probably to the kitchens for some food and butterbeer," Harry told her, shrugging.

"Right," Ginny nodded, rolling her eyes at her brother's over-fondness for food. Admittedly, as a Weasley, she ate a lot too, but she didn't get hungry every five minutes, or have five helpings at dinner, plus two more of dessert. That was a lot. She contributed it to the fact that they were also boys, because Harry ate almost as much as they did.

"You want to dance?" Harry asked her, gesturing to the people group of people who were dancing on one side of the room.

"Sure," Ginny grinned and grabbed his hand, pulling him behind her. They danced for a while, just enjoying each other's company and moving to the beat of the music. Harry wasn't actually too bad a dancer, she noticed, eyeing him while he wasn't looking. Unlike at the Halloween dance, there weren't any slow songs thrown in, so they had to rest eventually.

When they managed to make their way out of the crowd of dancers they found Ron, who was looking very pleased with himself, and holding four butterbeers.

"Been wondering where you two were," he said brightly. "Have some butterbeer. The elves gave me tons. Kreacher even came and said hello," Ron added, looking at Harry.

"Thanks, mate. I forgot he was still here. I'll have to go say hello some time, and figure out what I'll do with him after we graduate," Harry mused. He absentmindedly took a sip from his drink.

"Don't worry about it right now," Ginny said. "Just have some fun for a change. You never had anywhere near enough of it."

"Well I was a little bit busy saving the world," Harry pointed out. She just rolled her eyes and kissed him. She deepened it a little when she saw Ron move away through the crowd, muttering something about finding Hermione.

When she backed off Harry grinned at her. "Want to dance more?" he asked.

"Sounds good." They headed back into the mob.

They danced and chatted with their friends, or snogged a bit in one of the numerous armchairs scattered around the edges of the room, or ate some of the food that Ron had brought up, along with drinking numerous butterbeers.

By the end of the night (or very early morning), Ginny was feeling slightly buzzed. When Hermione started sending some of the younger kids to bed, the older ones took it as a sign that they should head off too. Hermione tended to get snappy if she couldn't get enough sleep.

When Ginny started heading towards her dorm stairs Harry stopped her. "Come up with me tonight," he suggested.

"I was planning on it," she said, rolling her eyes, "but I can't sleep in jeans." She pointed to her clothing.

"Right," Harry chuckled. "See you in a few."

Ginny waved and headed slowly up the stairs. It had been a good day. They had won the match, danced, snogged, and had fun. Over all, it had been a very productive day.

* * *

Good chapter? Like, dislike, was the Quidditch scene okay? Please tell me in a review. I MUST know about my Quidditch writing skill, because I'm not sure that I showed the match very well.

Anyway, on another note, I am taking a short break from my Twilight Fic, because I am having severe writer's block for it, in case any of you read it, and I have turned anonymous reviews on, for those of you who don't have an account. Please keep reading and reviewing!


	9. Chapter 9

I'm so so so so sorry! It's been over a month! I swear that I didn't mean to take this long to update. I've just been busy prepping for an audition and it's the end of third term so there are a bunch of tests and course recommendations and I had a Bio project that was do along with signing up for the Biology SAT Subject test and blech! To say it quickly, I've been busy.

Anyway, this chapter is just fun filler before we get to the more interesting next chapter, but I like it. I hope you guys like it too. Enjoy. Oh, and I have to thank my anonymous reviewer:

Sakurainmymind (Thanks for the support, and don't worry, you'll see the reaction sometime in the next two chapters. Not sure which one yet.)

~Robin

* * *

_Chapter 9_

_December 4th 1998_

"Can you believe how much work we have to do this weekend?" Ron asked. "We've got the essay for McGonagall, the other one for Flitwick, and we have to research all those ingredients for potions, plus practicing that new flibberty-whats-it spell for defense."

"Well, Ron. At least you don't also have Rune translations plus Arithmancy problems too," Hermione snapped. She was just slightly stressed out from the work the teachers were all loading on before the holidays.

"Well at least we've got all weekend. We can do the charms and start the potions tonight, and then finish it and do the transfiguration and practice the spell tomorrow," Harry reasoned.

"Right," Ginny said. "It can't be nearly as difficult as defeated Voldemort, right?"

Harry thought about it. They sat down and took out their charms books, settling down around a large table in the common room to work. After a few minutes Ginny groaned. "Never mind. I think it's worse."

"Let's just get it done," Harry groaned. By dinner, several hours later, they had just finished, and were packing their books up.

"Well that wasn't quite as bad as I expected. It only had to be a foot. McGonagall's will be brutal. It's got to be at least two," Ron said as they walked to the great hall.

"Don't remind me," Harry said. Transfiguration was not his strongest subject. He was just scraping a very low E in the subject. Even in potions he was doing better than that, now that he had a teacher who actually taught them something instead of swooping around like an overgrown bat and insulting their potions. Slughorn had actually managed to get Harry's potions skills up to scratch.

"Stop complaining you two. We've got all weekend to finish," Ginny said.

"I suppose you're right," Harry admitted, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend's waist. Ron muttered under his breath at the contact, but Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes.

"You'd think that with us sleeping in the same bed every night he wouldn't mind this," Ginny said loudly to Harry, trying to bug Ron even more than he already was.

"I don't have to _see_ that," Ron said.

"Yeah. Because you're with me," Hermione said, gesturing to his arm around her waist. "Remember? Don't be a hypocrite, Ron." Ron just mumbled something under his breath as the other three rolled their eyes at his typical behavior.

"Let's just go eat," Ginny said as they walked slowly down a set of stairs. "I'm starved." Everybody laughed and sped up to reach the great hall for dinner.

* * *

_December 5th 1998_

Harry woke up to someone jumping excitedly on his bed. Unfortunately, they accidentally jumped on his legs and slipped off, falling onto the floor. Harry sat up and winced from the pain and sat up to see a wildly grinning Ginny on the floor next to his bed. He looked at the clock.

"Was it really necessary to wake me up by jumping on my bed at six thirty on a Saturday?" he asked her grumpily, rubbing his eyes and falling back onto his pillow.

"Yep," she replied, jumping back up onto the bed and hopping up and down again.

"Can I ask why?" Harry asked.

"I suppose you can," she said, smirking and sitting down by his ankles, back against one of the posts on four-poster bed. Harry waited for her to answer. "Well, aren't you going to ask?"

"You cannot play these tricks on me when I just woke up," Harry complained.

"Apparently I can," she said, still smirking.

"You shouldn't be allowed to," Harry corrected himself. "Now, why did you have to bloody wake me up?" he asked.

"It's snowing!" Ginny said excitedly, and loudly.

"So. It snowed on Wednesday too. You weren't this excited-or energetic-then," Harry groaned, exasperated with her antics.

"Ah. But we didn't have several inches of snow on Wednesday now did we?" she asked smugly.

Harry shrugged. "You're point?" he asked, closing his eyes and rolling over.

"My point is that because it is the first big snow of the winter and it is a weekend it is time for the annual Hogwarts snowball fight," she said happily.

That caught Harry's attention. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"We're starting a tradition. Every year when the first big snow comes, that Saturday there will be a huge snowball fight between everybody that will participate," Ginny said, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Sounds like fun, but can I sleep for a while first more?" Harry begged.

"If you're sure you want to," she said, leaning forward and snuggling up against him so that their bodies were pressed together, their faces only a couple of inches apart. Her breath ran across his face, blowing his hair slightly.

"You play dirty," Harry grumbled, kissing her gently before sitting up, stretching, and getting out of bed.

Ginny pouted. Harry looked back at her. "What?" he asked innocently.

"You didn't do what I wanted you to do," Ginny complained, still pouting.

"I know your tricks," Harry said, smirking at her.

"Do you?" she asked him. Harry nodded. "We'll see about that. The snowball fight _is_ girls against boys and magic will be allowed, so I wouldn't be too sure," she said. It was her turn to smirk again.

Harry just shrugged nonchalantly, but inside he wasn't so confident. They were going to have Hermione. This could end really badly.

"Well, I've got to go prepare then, don't I?" Harry said, heading for the door.

Ginny gave up and just sprang out of the bed, grabbing him and pulling him back to the bed. The springs groaned as she pressed her lips hard to his, pulling him down on top of her.

"What the bloody hell have you two been doing this morning?" Dean asked, aggravated and sticking his head out of the gap between his scarlet hangings.

"Ginny woke me up because she was excited about the snow," Harry told him as a way of explanation, sitting up and taking Ginny with him.

Dean rolled his eyes at their position. Harry shrugged. Ginny just pulled herself onto his lap. Dean chuckled. "Right. Well next time, at least be quieter about it," he suggested.

"See. You woke someone else up too," Harry scolded her. Ginny just shrugged, kissing him again.

"But I got you awake too. So it worked out just fine," she reminded him brightly.

"I suppose you did," Harry said, chuckling and lying down again, pulling her down so that they were side to side on the bed.

"Yup, and you know about the snowball fight. My mission is complete," she said, yawning at the end. Harry yawned too, his eyes fluttering closed. He was allowed to get another hour or two of sleep on a Saturday and was just nodding of again when he was jabbed sharply in the ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, looking at his girlfriend. "What was that for?"

"To keep you awake. You're not going to sleep again until tonight. We have a snowball fight to be part of and work to do. It's going to be a busy day."

"Fine. Let's just get changed and go down for an early breakfast then," Harry suggested. It was after seven and the great hall would have food already.

"Sounds good," Ginny said hopping up and skipping out the door. When he was sure she had left he closed his eyes again only to hear her yelling, "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING BACK TO SLEEP NOW," from the bottom of the stairs.

Harry chuckled and stood up, stretching his arms above his head. It was going to be a long day, and he needed a shower.

* * *

Two hours later, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron (who only woke after much shouting and grumbling) were sitting at the Gryffindor table in the great hall eating breakfast.

They took a nice slow time eating while Hermione read the Daily Prophet (which was actually writing real stories again) and the other three talked. Ginny told Ron about the planned snowball fight, which he responded to more excitedly than a twelve-year-old would have, bouncing up and down in his seat and starting to plan his strategy.

"How are we arranging this, Gin?" Harry asked, suddenly realizing the issue.

"We'll go to the common room and announce that it'll start at eleven. Everybody who wants to can come and others will see how much fun it is and join in," she explained quickly.

"What about the other houses?" Hermione put in, finished with her paper.

"A bunch of people will probably be out enjoying the snow, so they could see and tell their housemates," Ginny said promptly.

"Sounds good to me. Let's go tell everyone else," Ron said, hopping up from the bench and his now-empty breakfast plate.

Ginny, Harry, and Hermione shared amused looks at his excitement before standing up themselves and following Ron out of the great hall, back to the relatively busy common room. Only a few people were still eating breakfast, so Ginny stood up by the fire and shot sparks from her wand for their attention. "Fellow Gryffindors!" she called. "We are having a snowball fight out on the front lawns for all those that are interested. It is boys against girls, and magic will be allowed. We start at eleven."

Excited mutters broke out. It seemed like everybody wanted a break from their studying and work. They all needed something to be happy about after the troubles of the previous year.

Ginny sat back down on Harry's lap, much to Ron's discontent, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against him. Hermione checked her watch. "It's already a quarter past ten. We should probably get our stuff and then head down, shouldn't we?" she asked.

"You're probably right," Harry said reluctantly, standing up and taking Ginny with him.

"Hey! I didn't want to get up yet," she complained.

"This was your idea, so you have to be there when it starts," Harry said stubbornly.

"Fine," Ginny grumbled, going over to the stairs up to the girls' dormitories. "Come on Hermione. Let's go get our stuff for the snow."

"Coming," Hermione said, following the red-head to the stairs as Harry and Ron headed for their own set and dashing up to the top. They entered their room and started digging around for their hats, gloves, and scarves. Once they found everything (somehow one of Ron's gloves had ended up in one of the showers) they grabbed their cloaks and went back down to meet the girls.

The girls were chatting on a couch when they got down. "What took you two so long?" Hermione asked. "You must have been up there for ten minutes."

"Have you seen their dorm recently. It's a mess. They probably found some of their stuff in the bathroom, or under their mattresses or something," Ginny said, laughing and rolling her eyes.

"Hey. Just because we're guys, doesn't make us completely unorganized," Harry defended.

"I didn't mean you, love," Ginny said. "I was talking about Ron. His stuff always seems to move of its own accord at home. I imagine it's much the same here."

"Let's just go," Ron muttered, shooting Ginny a glare and stepping over to grab Hermione's hand, before leading her out of the portrait hole. Hermione looked back at the other two, shaking with silent laughter at her boyfriend's behavior.

"We should go rescue Hermione," Harry said, following Ginny out of the portrait after the other two.

"She doesn't want rescuing, Harry. I think she and Ron were gearing up for a good snog, but we can't have that, can we?" Ginny said more loudly than necessary, breaking apart the kissing Ron and Hermione with a slight smirk on her face.

Hermione chuckled while Ron glared at his sister. "If you're not going to let us snog, then we should at least go and get people ready, not just stand here."

"Alright, fine. Let's get a move on. Some people are already starting to head down," Ginny said, gesturing to the open portrait hole and a few younger Gryffindors exiting it, fully decked out in hats, gloves, scarves, and cloaks.

The foursome began walking through down through the drafty castle, but used a few shortcuts, and managed to arrive before anyone else had. They waited until a few minutes past eleven for any stragglers to join and then Ginny stepped to the front of the small (about fifty people) crowd. It was a little bit more than half the house.

"Sonorous," Ginny muttered into her wand before placing it on her throat. "Hem-hem," she said in her best Umbridge impersonation. Everybody fourth-year and up jumped and looked directly at her. The younger students just looked confused but turned to Ginny anyway. She beamed. "Thank you. Now, we are about to start the first annual Hogwarts snowball fight." The crowd cheered, the seventh years the loudest. "There are only a few rules. One, it is boys against girls. Two, magic will be allowed, but please, no shield charms. They're long-lasting and make it less fun for the rest of us trying to hit you. Finally, most importantly, have fun! Now please, girls over here and boys over here," she finished, gesturing first to her right, then her left.

Once everybody had been sorted out, Ginny said one final thing. "Remember. You _are_ allowed to fight dirty. We start in three minutes. Meet with your team and plan your strategy. If you're hit with a snowball you will be marked with red. Three hits, and you're out. If you don't leave, you'll be hit with a jelly-legs jinx, causing you to fall over and face-plant in the snow," Ginny told them, waving her wand and casting the necessary charms. Hermione looked impressed by the spell-work, and Harry felt a burst of pride for his girlfriend. She was brilliant for thinking this all out so well. "Your three minutes... starts... NOW!" she finished, running off to join up with the girls.

"I have an idea," she said once she reached the group. They looked at her expectantly. "Well, we all know levitation charms, and us older students know disillusionment charms. We can charm some of you invisible, and you can set traps by levitating snowballs into trees and letting them fall on the boys. They'll be able to hit multiple times and multiple boys at once. The rest of us will distract them with other snowballs and our own special twists."

There were nods of agreement and impressed looks from many of the girls. Ginny grinned and clapped her gloved hands together. "Wonderful. Any volunteers for trap-setters. Hermione, Parvati, and Padma will put the charms on you, and then we can all start making snowballs. I'll show you a charm I learned a few years ago to help speed up the process."

About ten girls, first through third-years, stepped up to the three seventh-years, while Ginny showed the rest her charm. It was a really simple one. They just had to scoop the snow up and say 'ball forma' while moving their wands in a circle and the snow formed into a ball. It was usually used while cooking, but Ginny had thought that this was a better use of it when she learned it helping her mum make cookies at Christmas time a few years beforehand.

They were just starting to make the snowballs and handing some of them off to the trappers, who were just slight glimmers in the air, when sparks flew through the air between them and the boys.

"That's the start!" Ginny shouted to them all. "Girls! Take cover and build up some ammunition before attacking. Let's do this thing!"

"You'll never win!" Ron shouted from the other side.

"Oh won't we, Ronald, oh won't we," Hermione whispered from Ginny's side. "We are _so_ going to cream them," she then said louder to her friend.

"Definitely," Ginny nodded, moving her wand in a circle over several small piles of snow on the ground. They all formed into perfect spheres and Ginny piled them up, repeating the process a few more times and passing some off to the trap-setters who came their way.

When she had a large armful, she scooped them up and stuck her head above the pile of snow she and Hermione were crouched behind to look for any boys in their immediate area. She saw a Seamus and Dean right up ahead, looking away from them and took careful aim, before launching two snowballs, one at the back of each of their heads. They both turned around sharply only to see a large pile of snow. With matching smirks, they began to creep up to it, only to have a large batch of snowballs dumped on their heads as they crawled under a tree.

When they didn't move out of the war-zone, their legs started twitching madly and they fell in the snow. "I think you might want to step aside, boys," Ginny said, now standing in front of them.

"Shut it. We get it. You got us out. No need to rub it in," Dean said sullenly.

After the two boys moved, Ginny and Hermione went back to collect their snowballs only to find that half of them were gone. The boys were stealing their snowballs! That was playing dirty. Ginny was impressed in spite of herself.

She and Hermione shared one look before grabbing the rest of their snowballs and following the tracks, which the boys had forgotten to wipe out. There seemed to be several of them, and probably around fourth or fifth-year, judging by the size of their feet. (Ginny had a lot of experience with boys' feet. It was one of the 'perks' of have six older brothers.)

They soon spotted three fifth-years up ahead aiming at some of the other girls and started lobbing snowballs at them. The boys were caught by surprise and didn't manage to launch a counter-attack before the girls they had been attacking got them on the other side. The boys were all quickly hit three times and had to remove themselves from the game.

Ginny and Hermione ran over to the other girls. Neither of the two younger girls had been hit three times yet. In fact, only a few girls were out already. Hermione had been hit twice, but Ginny hadn't been hit yet and was still going strong.

"Gin," Hermione breathed, pulling her friend behind a snow-drift. "Harry and Ron up ahead."

"Brilliant," Ginny smirked, making more snowballs with her charm. "Hermione, you go sneak to that drift behind them and call out to Ron. I'll make sure he's the only one who goes over. When he gets close enough, hit him with snowballs. I'll deal with Harry."

"Sounds good," Hermione grinned. Ginny knew that Hermione wouldn't follow the plan. She'd want to have Ron to herself for a few minutes. Ginny was going to recruit Harry to help her get the couple out of the game.

Hermione snuck off, rather stealthily, and around the boys without them noticing. Then she heard Hermione and took the opportunity to show some of her hair above the snowbank and whisper, "Harry." Her boyfriend's head whipped around and he missed his best mate walking the other way, towards Hermione.

"Harry," Ginny said slightly louder. Harry looked in her direction.

"Ginny?" he asked.

"Yes, it's me. Over here, you prat," Ginny said, waving her hand above the snow pile. She had snowballs in her other hand just in case he thought it was a trap and came armed himself.

But of course, he didn't. He just went right around to the other side of the pile and crouched down next to her in the snow. "What?" he asked.

"Ron and Hermione are probably over there snogging right now, so we're going to hit them and get them out of the game," Ginny said, gesturing to the other snowbank.

"Sounds like a plan," Harry grinned. "Ron's only been hit once already and so have I, but we should be able to sneak up on them if they're-er-occupied."

"Excellent. Hermione's been hit twice already, and should be easy to hit again. Have a few snowballs," Ginny offered, handing him a few of the perfectly round snowballs from the pile between the two of them.

"Thanks," Harry said, taking them and then moving around to her other side to peer around the side of the snow bank. "Coast is clear. Let's move out."

Ginny lead the way to the other snow bank and didn't even bother trying to be quiet. Hermione and Ron were much to busy to pay attention to the things happening around them, so it didn't matter either way. She and Harry each got on opposite sides of the couple and she yelled, "Attack!" before running behind the bank and starting to pelt her best friend and brother with snowballs. Harry was on their other side, and soon, the pair had both been hit three times and had to leave the field.

Harry and Ginny were just starting to celebrate when they were each hit in the back by several snowballs at once. They both turned to face their attacker to see Luna and Neville standing behind them laughing, Luna's wand up and several more snowballs floating in mid-air in front of her. "Shouldn't you be moving before the jelly-legs jinx takes affect?" Neville asked innocently.

"Shouldn't you be joining them, Neville?" Luna asked sweetly, firing her last snowballs at him before he could react.

She, Harry, and Ginny laughed as Neville pouted, before the three that had been hit removed themselves from the playing field, noticing that only a few students were left, most of them girls, who were now ganging up on the remaining boys.

They went off to find Hermione and Ron, who were in the great hall eating lunch with the rest of the people who had been eliminated. When Neville, Harry, and Ginny sat down Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow, "Who got you three out?"

"Luna," they all said at once, laughing at Hermione's incredulous look. "She can be quite vicious when she wants to," Ginny added after her laughter had subsided.

They all ate in relative calm and peace. That is until Hermione had to bring up a less enjoyable subject. "We have so much work to do. We'd better get started," she said as they finished.

"Do we have to?" Ron complained. "Can't we do it tomorrow?"

"Not if you want to sleep in," Hermione snapped. Ron pouted but went with her and the others when they left, not wanting to be left behind, or forced to get up early the next day for the second time in one weekend.

* * *

_December 19th 1998_

"I am _so_ ready for the holidays," Ron groaned, relaxing onto the seat of the train compartment.

"Even though you won't see me for a week and a half?" Hermione asked, one eyebrow raised as if daring her boyfriend to answer incorrectly.

"Of course not, Mione," Ron said, softening as he pulled his girlfriend to his side and kissing her forehead. "The holidays are never as much fun without you being there. I'll miss you so much and I wish you didn't have to go see your parents."

"I wish you could just come with me for a few days and then we could go to the Burrow, but I need to talk to them about what happened," Hermione told him. "I'll be there on New Year's Eve for the spectacular fireworks that I'm certain Fred and George have been planning for everyone."

"I know," Ron sighed, kissing her gently on the lips.

"Please don't start," Ginny groaned. "My poor virgin eyes. They don't need to see this."

"Right, Gin, like you haven't seen snogging before. You and Harry snog all the time," Ron shot back.

"Sure we do, but my eyes are usually closed," Ginny said, smirking at her brother.

"On second thought, maybe I do need a break from this," Hermione whispered to Harry, looking at the bickering siblings.

"Now you know what I had to listen to for the first six and a half years of knowing the two of you," Harry said, gesturing to her and Ron.

Hermione blushed slightly, but shrugged it off. Sure, she was going to be away from Ron for the first time in a while, but they always say, 'Distance makes the heart grow fonder.' She didn't know how her love for Ron could grow to be more than it already was, but she wouldn't complain if it did.

* * *

So, good, bad, terrible, awesome, hilarious? Tell me in a review please. Next chapter will be up in less than a month. I promise!


	10. Chapter 10

Hey guys! Aren't you proud of me? Its been less than two weeks! I thinks this is my fastest update since the second or third chapter. On a less happy note, I only got two reviews last chapter. It made me sad. I need people to inspire me! It makes me want to right.

Anyway, I want to thank my anonymous reviewer:

Magic Pirate - I totally agree with you. Thanks for the review, and complimenting my writing skills. (Some of my friends are much better.)

It's almost Christmas! I mean, in the story, obviously. In real life, Passover starts tonight! That means that my dad will be Kosher for the only time all year! Anyway, enough about my life. On with the story!

~Robin

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I may own a Gryffindor scarf, and have all of the books, along every movie except the seventh, but that means nothing. I still don't actually own the world of Harry Potter. Only JKR will ever have that prestigious right.

* * *

_Chapter 10_

_December 19th 1998_

Hermione was leaving the platform with her parents, who looked happy to see her after such a long break from being able to. (They had needed to stay in St. Mungo's for a few months after their memories were returned to make sure that they recovered completely and Hermione hadn't gotten to see them.)

Harry, Ron, and Ginny, however, were apparating from the station to the Burrow. Before they could do that, they sent their trunks to the house with a charm that they had learned earlier in the year. Then they grabbed hands and spun on the spot, before disappearing with a small pop and reappearing at the Burrow once more.

Before they even managed to suck in a breath from the dark airlessness they had just squeezed themselves through, a tight embrace enveloped them all. "Oh, dear. I was so worried one of you would splinch yourself, but you're all safe and sound. Now come on inside, dears, and take your trunks upstairs before dinner," Molly said, finishing with a clap of her hands and shuttling them all inside.

The three followed her inside with their trunks suspended in the air behind them before levitating them up to their respective rooms. Harry was staying with Ron because Percy was staying for the holidays, as were the twins and Charlie, so it was the only room left. Teddy, had apparently been staying in Molly and Arthur's room now that he could sleep through the night without waking them up by crying, and Hermione would be staying with Ginny when she got there before New Years.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny spent the evening eating a delicious dinner with Teddy and the rest of the Weasley family (minus Bill and Fleur, who wouldn't be staying at the Burrow, but would be visiting several times). Molly asked them how school was going, while Charlie and the twins asked about the quidditch team's prospects for the house cup. Harry fed Teddy for the first time since that summer and had put his godson to sleep after they all finished eating.

After that, he, Ron, and Ginny, exhausted from their long day, went to bed early. Charlie had somewhere to go, but wouldn't give them a straight answer as to where.

When they reached Ginny's room, Ron went right up to his, but Harry paused to say goodnight.

"Night, Harry," Ginny said, kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Night, Gin," Harry said, brushing a hair out of her face. "Love you," he added with another kiss.

"You too," Ginny mumbled against his lips.

Then Fred came shoving up the stairs past them. "Oi, not on the stairs, you two," he scolded, clicking his tongue and wiggling his finger teasingly.

"Shove off, Fred," Ginny replied, kissing Harry one last time before going into her room and closing the door, as her brother laughed while climbing farther up the stairs.

Harry chuckled slightly and turned to climb the rest of the way up to Ron's bedroom below the attic. When he arrived, Ron had already changed and was sitting on his bed. Harry grabbed his pajamas from the top of his trunk and pulled his on too before turning to face his best mate, sitting on the camp bed he usually used when he stayed at the Burrow.

"Mate, we're going to have to set rules for you and Gin while we're here," Ron started.

Harry stopped him, holding up his hand. "Got it Ron. We sleep apart and we don't snog in public at all unless I want the rest of your brothers to kill me. I've got it just fine, thanks."

Ron looked slightly abashed. "Yeah, yeah. Look, I'm not trying to be harsh," Ron told him. "I just don't want to see you get roughed up too much, alright? I'm one of the less protective brothers. Bill is the worst by far," Ron finished with a slight shiver.

"Thanks, mate. I'll keep that in mind," Harry said wryly, lying down and pulling the blankets up over him.

"I'm just warning you," Ron said, climbing under his own covers before closing his eyes and almost immediately falling into a deep sleep.

Harry, on the other hand, was having trouble falling asleep. He was tired, that was for sure, but he wasn't used to sleeping by himself anymore. He had been sharing his bed with Ginny for over a month and it felt odd to be the only one in it. He tossed and turned, before eventually falling into an uneasy sleep.

Ginny, however, several floors below him, was having an even worse time of it. Before she had started sharing a bed with Harry, she had been having occasional nightmares. Sleeping with him had gotten rid of them completely, but now that he was gone, they were back full throttle.

_The boy who lived is finished. The boy who lived is finished. Finished. Finished. No! It couldn't be. Harry couldn't be dead. Voldemort's announcement was just to get them to lose spirit, to stop fighting, to join his side. Harry wasn't dead. It wasn't possible. He wasn't allowed to die. Voldemort wasn't finished yet. Harry had to be alive. All the thoughts echoed around Ginny's head as she followed the Ron and Hermione and the rest of the mob out through the great doors of the castle._

_Then she heard the first cry. "NO!" It was McGonagall. Ginny had heard her make a sound that desperate or distraught._

_Ginny started to rush out now, joining the frantically screaming crowd. She followed Hermione and Ron, breaking through the front line in the crowd, only to hear their shouts of upset and dismay ringing in her ears._

_Then her eyes found what everybody else had already seen. His body. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, Harry, was lying dead on the ground, a sobbing Hagrid standing behind him. She wasn't imagining it. He was really dead. Voldemort wasn't lying. "Harry! HARRY!" she screamed, the sound breaking from her vocal cords without her willing it to. She broke down into sobs, her legs giving out beneath her and letting her fall to the ground, head cradled in her hands, screams still escaping in gasps from her mouth._

"_G-Gin," Charlie's voice said, his strong hands shaking her shoulders. "It'll be okay. We can make it through," he kept saying, repeating the meaningless words over and over again to her as he lifted her back up to her feet._

"_Ginny, it's okay, sis. Nothing's wrong," he continued, but he was wrong. How could anything be right again with Harry gone from the world?_

"Ginny!" Charlie said, shaking her again and causing her to wake from the nightmare into her brother's waiting arms, at home safe in her bed, but still sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. She melted into Charlie's arms, shaking against him as he shushed and comforted her. "What's wrong, Gin? Are the nightmares coming back again? What was the dream this time?" he asked her in a soothing tone of voice.

"It was H-Harry, Charlie," Ginny whispered. "Harry d-dead," Ginny finished, her voice shaking, before collapsing once more into sobs.

Charlie didn't know what to do. He really wasn't very good with emotional females. There was only one thing he could really think of, but he was reluctant to do it. Then he looked back at his sobbing sister on the bed and steeled himself. If it was what Ginny needed, he would push his brotherly protectiveness onto the sidelines for the moment. He sighed quietly. "I'll go get Harry," he said to Ginny before stepping back out of her room and tiptoeing quietly up several flights of stairs all the way to the room that Harry was sharing with Ron.

He cracked the door and went over to the black-haired teenager on the camp bed, shaking him awake. Harry's eyes opened immediately and he sprang up, grabbing his glasses and wand before Charlie had a second to react. "It's just me," Charlie whispered to Harry.

"Oh. Sorry, Charlie. Automatic," Harry said, gesturing to the wand in his hand.

"I figured," Charlie responded wryly. Then he got serious again. "Ginny's had a nightmare. It was you dead. I heard her shrieking in her sleep. Can you-er-come and calm her down, or something?"

"Gin's upset?" Harry asked, immediately concerned. "Yeah, I'm coming," he finished, stretching and following Charlie back down to Ginny's room.

Charlie opened the door for him and Harry rushed to his girlfriend, who was huddled on her bed, tears still leaking down her cheeks. "It's okay, Gin, I'm here," Harry said, cradling her to his chest and wiping the tears from her cheeks, laying a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I-I dreamed you w-were d-deadag-gain," Ginny cried, as Harry tightened his arms around her.

"I'm right here," Harry whispered.

_Thanks,_ Charlie mouthed from the doorway as he stepped back. Harry nodded in reply, most of his attention focused instead on the crying redhead in his arms. Charlie closed the door behind him and went up to his and Bill's old bedroom, wiped out after the events of the day.

Harry took he and Ginny being alone as an opportunity to lean back against the pillows of Ginny's small bed and pull her to his side, keeping a tight grip on her and sitting quietly as she slowly calmed down once more. "Sorry," she mumbled once her tears had finally stopped.

"Gin, you don't have to be sorry for having nightmares and then getting upset about them. I had nightmares for years and woke up in a cold sweat half-way through the night all the time. Sometimes I screamed or thrashed about. Just ask Ron. They were terrible," Harry said, turning to sit crossed-legged, his knees touching Ginny's.

"I know," Ginny chuckled. "I was more sorry about waking you up in the middle of the night."

"It's alright. I wasn't sleeping very well without you anyway," Harry said, brushing a hair from her face and leaning in to brush his lips gently against hers.

"Mmmhmm," Ginny sighed. "There's another good thing about Charlie going to get you," she muttered, kissing him gently again. "He can only blame himself if we're both here in the morning." With that, she pulled Harry down onto the bed with her, cuddling into him like she would in his bed at Hogwarts.

"Very true," Harry agreed, pulling the blankets over the two of them so that they wouldn't freeze before the morning.

"Love you, Harry," Ginny said, nestling as close to him as she could get, needing his touch after seeing his dead body flash through her dreams.

"Love you too, Gin," Harry murmured, wrapping his arms around her before falling into a dreamless sleep, having no trouble now that she was there with him.

* * *

_December 20th 1998_

"Charlie, dear," Molly requested, "Would you go wake the others up so their breakfast doesn't get cold?"

"Sure, Mum," Charlie said with a yawn, standing up from the worn kitchen table. He was used to getting up early on the dragon reserve, but he had been up really late the night before and it was getting to him a lot faster than he had expected.

With a groan, he started up the stairs to Ginny's room. Without knocking, he opened the door, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Gin, Mum says it's time to get up," he said.

"What?" Ginny asked, her voice thick with sleep.

"It's time to get up. I've got to go wake Ron and Ha-" Charlie stopped mid-sentence, remembering that he had left Harry in there the night before, not truly thinking it through. "Harry," Charlie finished with a groan, slapping himself in the forehead and swearing quietly as he saw the other body in bed with his sister.

Harry sat up, and looked sheepishly up into the second-oldest Weasley brother's face. "Sorry," he muttered. "Fell asleep here." Harry pushed the covers back and stood up.

Charlie mentally thanked Merlin that Harry and Ginny were both still fully clothed. "We'll be discussing this later, Potter, you mark my word," he threatened.

Ginny snorted. "Bloody hypocrite," she said. "And where did you go last night, dear brother. I doubt that you were sitting in a tea shop and having a nice pudding. No, you were probably at some girl's flat shagging, thank you very much."

"It's none of your business what I was doing last night, Gin," Charlie said, feeling the back of his neck growing warm.

"As it's none of your business what I was doing," Ginny said, finished his sentence for him.

"You've just turned of age. You're not out of school. You haven't moved out yet."

"And you're _so_ much more mature," Ginny countered.

"Oh, shut it both of you," Harry said before a full-out shouting match could begin between the two hot-headed siblings.

"Don't tell me what to do, Potter," Charlie warned.

"You can talk to me later, Charlie, but we didn't do anything last night. Don't get your knickers in a twist without any reason," Harry said reasonably.

"Fine," Charlie agreed before stalking out of the room and up the stairs to wake Ron up. The twins, Arthur, and Percy were working until Christmas Eve and had already left for the day, so Ron was the only one left who wasn't awake.

"You don't have to explode every time one of your brothers starts a fight you know," Harry told Ginny as they walked down to the kitchen.

"I do so. If I back down, they'll think they have power over me and I can't have that," Ginny replied, indignation obvious in her voice. "Plus, you should be glad. If it had been Bill, there would have been spells exchanged, not just words."

"Yeah, Ron warned me," Harry said, shivering at the thought of Bill's wand aimed at him, ready to use some curse that Harry had never seem or heard of before.

"You realize that they're all going to confront you together at some point," Ginny continued conversationally. "Even Ron."

"I kind of figured. They've all been threatening to talk with me one by one. It's actually kind of funny," Harry said with a chuckle.

"It won't be if you say something wrong and they curse you," Ginny before they stepped into the kitchen. Harry shrugged before walking in and over to the table, where Molly sat the two of them down and started to fuss, heaping food onto their plates.

By the time they had started eating, Charlie had managed to get Ron out of his room and down the stairs, probably by mention breakfast.

Once they were all seating Molly asked them, "I'm guessing that you all have some Christmas shopping to do?" The three nodded. "Alright then. We can go into Diagon Alley after breakfast, and then, if you still have things to buy, you can all go into Muggle London for the afternoon and I'll take Teddy back here with me," she concluded, nodding her head towards the giggling baby, who was sitting in a high-chair at one end of the table.

"Sounds good, Mum," Ginny agreed. "Although we'll have to split up in Diagon Alley some of the time so that we can buy presents for each other."

"Alright then. You three finish up eating, then you can get ready and we'll be off."

They finished off breakfast quickly and then split to get changed. Ginny went into her room and Harry followed Ron up the stairs to his room.

When they both got inside, Ron spun around and threw the door closed, before turning on Harry, a slightly pained look on his face. "What the hell do you think you were doing?" he asked.

"What?" Harry said, confused.

"Why did you sneak down with Gin last night after the rest of us went to sleep?" Ron asked, slightly angry.

"What!" Harry said, this time in shock. "I didn't do that. I stayed up here until Charlie came to get me saying that she was having nightmares and needed me. That's when I went down there to calm her down. Then I just, sort of, fell asleep there, and Charlie found us this morning," Harry explained quickly.

"Damn," Ron groaned, sitting down on his bed. "She's having nightmares again. Hermione said that she had them over the summer a bit, but that they'd stopped now. D'you know what it was?"

"The nightmare?"

"Yeah," Ron clarified.

"Me. Dead," Harry whispered, head in his hands, imagining how hard that was for Ginny and Hermione and the Weasleys, along with everybody else fighting that day, to see. He couldn't imagine seeing any _one_ of his friends dead. He'd already had enough of that between Collin, Remus, Tonks, and Andromeda. Nobody needed any more death for a _long_ time.

Ron was thinking. The one night that Harry hadn't been with her, Ginny had had a nightmare about Harry being dead. Could the two things be connected. "Hey, mate?" Ron asked, shaking Harry from his thoughts. "Do you think she had the nightmare because you weren't there?"

"It's possible, I guess," Harry said, shrugging.

"Well, did she sleep alright after you were there?" Ron questioned.

"Yeah, fine. So did I as a matter of fact. I kept tossing and turning before that," Harry confirmed, eyes widening when he realized where Ron was going with this. "You think we can't sleep apart and still be able to sleep now? We've gotten too used to having each other there?"

"It could be, mate," Ron said with a shrug. "We should ask Hermione about it when she gets here."

"Why, because she's supposed to know everything?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Hey, it's possible she'll have read something about it in some health magazine or something," Ron answered with a shrug. "We really change though. Mum'll kill us if we keep them waiting too long," he added as an afterthought.

"Right," Harry agreed, moving towards his trunk and starting to sort through its contents to find clothes for the day.

By mid-morning, they were all ready to go. The three apparated first, followed by Molly, and then Charlie, who apparently had something to do. Again. He was being very secretive about where he kept going when he went off, like the night before and again that day. Harry and Ginny chose not to ask, but Molly kept asking him what he was off to, and Ron looked slightly grouchy, although that was more likely to be from not seeing Hermione for a day, rather than anything to do with Charlie.

"Well, you three," Molly tutted, "I'm off to get a few things, so get as much done as you can and then we'll meet back at the Leaky Cauldron for some lunch before heading home."

"Molly, could I take Teddy for the morning?" Harry asked. "I feel like I've been shoving him off on you with school and all that," he elaborated, squirming slightly guiltily about not fulfilling his godfatherly duties.

"Oh, nonsense dear," Molly said, brushing off the comment, but, all the same, handing the gurgling, smiling eight-month-old to Harry. "Now, back at noon, alright?"

"Yes, Mum," Ron said sarcastically. Then, lowering his voice so that only Harry and Ginny could hear, he added, "We heard you the first three-hundred times."

Molly then turned to head farther down the narrow street, which was filled with bustling witches and wizards finishing their Christmas shopping. "So, where to first?" Ginny asked the boys, looking down the road at all the tiny shops.

"Well, we should probably split up so that we can shop for each other," Harry said, gesturing between the three of them.

"Right," Ron agreed. "How about we do that first, then we'll meet up back here around eleven and wander around a bit?" he suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Ginny shrugged. "See you soon," she added before wandering into a little shop just a few doors down from where they were standing awkwardly in the middle of the street, obstructing the flow of traffic as people pushed by them to pass.

"Right, well I'm heading this way," Harry said, waving to Ron over his shoulder. The boys split up and went in opposite directions down the alley, glancing in the windows of shops and sometimes going in for a closer look, buying something if they thought that it suited somebody they still needed to buy for.

At five past eleven, Ron and Ginny were waiting impatiently in the cold for Harry to get back, weighed down with their shopping and their money bags much lighter than they had been. "Where is Harry?" Ron complained. "He's usually the reliable one."

"You don't think something's happened to him, do you?" asked Ginny worriedly.

"Gin, honestly," Ron sighed. "He defeated the darkest bloody wizard of the age. Nothing is going to happen to in him broad daylight in the middle of a crowded street."

"Who are you talking about?" Harry asked, appearing from nowhere behind them, with Teddy sitting happily in his arms.

"Don't do that!" Ginny scolded, smacking her boyfriend's arm as he laughed at the expression on her face. Then she noticed he wasn't holding any bags. "Where's your shopping?" she asked.

"I dropped it off at the house," Harry said.

"Why couldn't you have waited and we could have gone with you?" Ron asked.

"Because, Ron," Harry said firmly, "if you did, you would have seen one of the presents I bought, and that ruins the whole surprise."

"Alright, mate, I was just asking," Ron grumbled.

Harry shrugged and stole one of Ginny's bags before she could protest, shifting Teddy so that he was holding him with one arm. He giggled and pulled at the hair above Harry's ear.

"Harry!" Ginny protested.

"I'm being a gentleman," Harry said, defending himself as best he could with a baby on one side and a bag on the other.

"I understand that," Ginny grumbled, rolling her eyes, "but you can't carry that bag. It has your present in it," she explained like she was talking to a two-year-old.

"Oops," Harry said, handing her the bag back and taking a different one before she escaped. "There. Everyone's happy." Ron muttered something under his breath that Harry didn't quite hear, but figured was that since Hermione wasn't there, he wasn't happy. Harry gave him a sympathetic, but slightly awkward, pat on the back. "You'll see her soon," he mumbled quietly.

"I know, just miss her," Ron replied with a slight shrug.

Ginny was tapping her foot impatiently. "If you don't mind," she said crossly, "I'd like to go somewhere warmer. It's not exactly pleasant out here," she added, looking up at the cloudy sky.

"Sorry, Gin," Harry said, chuckling under his breath at her impatience. She was worse than Ron sometimes, not that he would ever tell her that, of course. "Let's head back to the Leaky. We can get a table and wait for your mum to get back," he suggested.

The other two nodded and shrugged in agreement and the threesome walked back towards the end of the alley where the Leaky Cauldron was the gateway between Diagon Alley and Muggle London.

They had only been there ten minutes before Molly arrived, several bags on her arms and looking slightly frazzled from the sheer amount of people around. She quickly spotted them and made her way over to their table, occasionally bumping somebody with one of her bags before apologizing and continuing towards them.

"Did you all finish your shopping?" she asked, sitting down across next to Ron, who had grudgingly 'allowed' Harry and Ginny to sit next to each other.

"Almost," Ginny answered, frowning as she went through her mental list. "I just need things for Fleur, Hermione, Angelina, and Katie. I was thinking I could go to a Muggle book store and maybe a clothing store too."

"Right. I don't have anything left, but I'll tag along," Harry said.

"I just need something for Hermione," Ron told them.

"Alright then. I'll just send all your bags home and put them in your rooms, dears. Then you can go off and finish up," Molly said, taking out her wand and waving it at all the bags under the table, which then disappeared with a small popping sound.

"Thanks Mum," Ginny said with a smile before standing up and pulling her coat and everything back on, the boys following suit.

"Harry, I'll take Teddy now," Molly said, holding her arms out for the baby.

"You really don't have to, Molly," Harry said.

"Oh, nonsense," she said, taking him anyway. "Have fun, dears," Molly said, before turning on the spot and disappearing back to the Burrow.

"Follow me," Harry said. "I know where there's a mall nearby," he added, leading his girlfriend and best mate out into Muggle London. They walked a few blocks before Harry pointed up at a large, brightly lit building in front of them. "Here we are," he said. "I'm glad I remembered where it was."

"So are we, mate," Ron agreed with a smirk. "I don't know about you two, but I'd rather not get lost in the middle of Muggle London around Christmas time."

Harry and Ginny laughed, glad that Ron was at least joking a little, and not still grouchy about not seeing Hermione. "Let's do this," Ginny said, face set as she looked up at the huge building full of Muggles and Muggle things.

"It's really not that tough, Gin," Harry smirked with an eye roll.

"Shut it, Potter. Not all of us were raised by Muggles," Ginny said with a glare at her boyfriend's smug expression.

"I know, but it isn't that tough. Just let me handle the money, and there won't be any problems," Harry suggested, remembering how Arthur had had problems when they went to the Quidditch World Cup and had to pay the campsite manager.

"Fine," Ginny huffed, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her into the building, Ron following behind them, looking around in awe.

"It's just shops mate," Harry grinned, looking back at his best mate and chuckling at his expression.

Ron's ears turned red. "You may be my best mate, but don't think that'll stop me from throwing a punch at you if you bug me too much," Ron threatened. Harry just laughed, turning back to face forward. "Let's just finish the damn shopping," Ron muttered.

* * *

Yay! All done. I hope you liked it. Next chapter has some drama, so be looking forward to it. Please review. I must know what you think of me!


	11. Chapter 11

Hello my gorgeous, charming, lovely readers! I love you all SO much. Thirteen reviews. I'm still in shock. Thank you all so much for reviewing. It means everything to me.

Plataca: Thanks! I'm really trying to actually show what's happening, and not just tell the story. Don't worry, I'll be continuing for a while yet.

HPfan619: Is this soon enough for you? Probably not, but oh well...

Dudei'mcanadian: Ah, yes, the drama. It's not toooo dramatic, but just a little something I needed to add in.

Anyway, here is your chapter. I hope you like it, and keep reviewing. It'll encourage me to write the next chapter a bit faster. ;)

~Robin

Disclaimer: If I was JKR, I wouldn't have to be on FANfiction, now would I?

* * *

_Chapter 11_

_December 24th 1998_

Harry heard a knock on the door to the Burrow from his place at the kitchen table and stood up to answer it, yawning as he rose from his seat. It was early, and he was the only one up already. He hadn't been able to sleep very well because of being apart from Ginny, but hadn't wanted to be caught. She hadn't had any more nightmares, but wasn't sleeping all that well either.

Harry didn't know who would be knocking at that time of day, as it was just after six in the morning, but made his way over to the door anyway. With another yawn, he pulled it open to see Bill and Fleur standing on the other side of the threshold.

"'Arry!" Fleur exclaimed upon seeing him, pulling him into a hug and kissing his cheeks. Harry, amazingly, managed not to blush or stutter. "Eet eez so nice to see you," she said, releasing him."

"It's nice to see you too," Harry grinned, then moved out of the doorway so that she and Bill could enter, the latter with an amused smile on his face. They both took off their cloaks and hung them up on pegs right next to the door before sitting down at the table. Harry sat down again and wrapped his hands around the tea he had made earlier. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you here so early?" Harry asked the couple.

"Fleur, for some bizarre reason, wanted to come make breakfast for the family," Bill said, giving his wife a teasing glare.

"Eet eez not my fault zat your maman cooks too much and deserves a break," Fleur said, glaring back at her husband and standing up, starting to bustle around the kitchen with her wand out, causing pans and food to move to the stove or begin to measure themselves out.

"She cooks a great breakfast, I just wish she hadn't woken me up at five thirty to come over here," Bill whispered conspiratorially to Harry.

Harry chuckled. He and Bill talked while Fleur cooked until the smells started to draw people out of bed. The first was Ginny, who came in and sat next to Harry before putting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. Harry resisted the urge to wrap his arm around her after seeing Bill look between the two of them.

There was a slightly awkward silence. "You two are ze cuteest!" Fleur announced, breaking the silence, when she saw Ginny leaning up against Harry.

"Yes, just adorable," Bill said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut it," Ginny muttered, not opening her eyes.

Bill blushed slightly, obviously thinking that she had been asleep. "Fine," he huffed before quieting again.

The silence was filled with only the sound of Fleur's cooking until others started coming down the stairs. Molly and Arthur came down together, both with dressing gowns on over their pajamas, and looked surprised to see anybody else always awake before seven. Molly had Teddy with her and put him down in his high chair.

"Good morning, dears," Molly greeted them. Then she saw Fleur cooking. "Fleur. You did not have to come over on Christmas Eve to cook breakfast. It's completely unnecessary," she tutted.

"That's what I said," Bill grumbled. "Morning Dad," he added, greeting his father, who didn't quite look awake yet.

"Morning Bill, Fleur, Harry, Ginny," Arthur said before sitting down at the table with the rest of them and pouring himself a cup of tea. Fleur had made another pot.

After a few minutes of quiet conversation Charlie came down the stairs, looking wide awake and already fully dressed. He didn't say anything, just glanced at Harry and Ginny before gesturing for Bill to follow him outside. Bill stood up, slightly confused, and followed his younger brother out the door without a word.

Fleur started putting food on the table and gave everybody plates, letting them serve themselves. Everybody started eating and the last of the Weasleys joined the group, apparently tempted out of bed by the smell of food in the air that was wafting up through the house.

Bill and Charlie came in, Bill looking slightly red and angry, but controlling himself and sitting in the same seat he had been in, right across from Harry. Charlie went to sit by the twins and told them something quietly. Bill muttered something to Percy with an almost imperceptible nod in Harry's direction, but that Harry noticed. He had been a seeker for years; he was good at noticing things that most people didn't.

Well, he had known that it was coming. He had actually expected it to come sooner. The Weasley brothers were going to talk to him about Ginny today. It was going to be interesting, no doubt about that.

After breakfast, Harry ventured back upstairs to shower and change. When he came back down, about twenty minutes later, it was to find only Charlie left in the kitchen. The rest of the household had wandered off to do their own thing. Harry was sure that Arthur would be tinkering with Sirius' old motorbike, Molly was probably doing some household chore, and Fleur trying to make herself useful by helping. Ginny was in the shower, having taken her turn after Harry, and wouldn't be out for a while. She liked to go last so that she had as much time as she wanted.

Charlie looked up when he heard Harry enter the kitchen. Harry opened his mouth to speak before Charlie even had the chance. "I'm guessing you all want to talk to me?" he said, turning it into a question.

"Of course you'd figure it out," Charlie muttered under his breath. "Out in the thicket, Potter," he said, calling him by his last name as a sign that they were not currently friends. Charlie was Ginny's older brother at that moment-and that was it.

Harry shrugged and followed Charlie out of the Burrow, casting a silent warming charm on himself since he didn't have his cloak, until they reached the small clearing in the middle of the thicket where they played quidditch. The rest were already there. Bill, Fred, George, Ron, and even Percy, all stood in the clearing.

Bill looked menacing, with the scars running down his face and a grim look; Fred and George were grinning madly, like they were looking forward to torturing Harry; Ron simply looked slightly apologetic; and Percy, well Percy looked bemused, as if he didn't think they needed to be there at all. Harry met their eyes, one by one, moving from one face to another.

Charlie joined them and the six brothers all faced Harry, looking eerily similar despite all of their differences.

"Okay, Potter," Bill finally said. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," he said, fingering his wand gently.

"What he means is we can ask you questions and you answer, or we can hex you into the next century," Charlie clarified. Bill shot him a glare. Charlie shrugged. "The guy at least deserves a chance to choose."

"I'll try the easy way first," Harry said, slightly nervously. Fred and George's grins grew wider, obviously preparing some questions that they wanted to ask him.

Bill shrugged, but took his hand away, reluctantly, from his wand. He faced Harry directly. "What are your intentions to our sister?" he asked.

Harry thought for a second, then said slowly, "I love her. I'll probably marry her someday, if she agrees. I want to be with her forever. It's not just some stupid fling."

Bill looked at him carefully, obviously checking for some sign that he was lying. Charlie apparently noticed this too and spoke up. "You haven't seen them the past few days, Bill. They move almost like the same person, in tune with everything the other person does. It's the same thing that you do with Fleur, even if you don't notice it."

Harry and Bill were equally shocked at that, but Bill spoke first. "Just whose side are you on?" he asked angrily.

"I'm just telling it the way I see it," Charlie said defensively.

"Fine. I've asked my question," Bill said. "I think Fred and George had some things they wanted to ask," he said, turning to the twins, who were wearing identical smirks on their faces, a mischievous light in their eyes when they turned towards Harry.

"So, Mr. Potter, you and Ginevra have been dating for around six-and-a-half months now, correct?" Fred asked, pacing in front of Harry, hands folded behind his back as George looked on.

"Um, sort of," Harry answered honestly.

"What do you mean, sort of?" Bill asked.

"Well, you see," Harry started awkwardly. Obviously Ron was the only one who knew about Harry and Ginny's temporary time as a couple at the end of their sixth and fifth years. "Um, we sort of dated at the end of my sixth year, her fifth, and then I-I broke up with her because of Voldemort coming after me, and I wanted to keep her safe," he said quickly, rushing through the end before they could react. He threw a glance at Ron, who only gave him a small shrug in return, not being able to tell what his brother's reactions to the news.

"You dumped her," Bill said slowly.

"To protect her from Voldemort," Charlie added before Bill could jump to conclusions and start to strangle Harry. He didn't want there to be any murder.

"You'd better explain yourself better, Potter," Bill demanded, giving him a dark glare.

Harry nodded and explained. "I kissed her after the final quidditch match in front of the whole house, and we dated for about six weeks. Then, after Dumbledore's funeral, I broke up with her, knowing that Voldemort would be coming after me, and not wanting to her to get caught in the cross-fire. I didn't want him to use her to get to me."

"Okay. I understand," Bill said after a minute of pause. All of the Weasley brothers stared at him in shock. "What?" he asked. "I'm reasonable, I just wanted to hear his reasoning first." He turned back to Harry. "Alright then, Potter. We know you love her, but we still have some other things we need to know."

"That's where we can come in again then, isn't it Freddie?" George asked his twin, both of them coming to stand directly in front of Harry, side by side, grinning menacingly at him.

"Right you are, George," Fred agreed, never looking away from Harry's face. Harry knew that he was most likely about to be extremely embarrassed, and probably yelled at to boot.

"Now, Harry, we already know that you snog our little sister," George started.

"Is that correct?" Fred asked for clarification. Harry nodded. Bill seemed to be taking deep, calming breaths, but thankfully didn't hex him.

"Good boy," George said.

"For answering truthfully," Fred finished for him.

"We'll just skip the little steps and go right to the big one, then," George said.

"Have you slept with our little Gin?" Fred asked. You could hear the silence in the air, the six redheads waiting on tenterhooks for Harry's answer.

Harry, meanwhile, was trying to figure out what to say. Finally he spoke. "That depends what you mean by 'slept with'," he said, not meeting any of their eyes.

"I think you know what we mean," Charlie said, arms crossed. Harry had hoped, that he, at least, knew the answer, but it was apparent that he didn't.

"I really don't want to say this," Harry muttered to himself. Then, he raised his voice so that the rest could hear him. "We've slept in the same bed." Silence. "We have _not_ had sex."

He could almost hear the release of tension. Shoulders relaxed, necks and backs slumped, but Fred had one last question. "How often?" he asked, still looking at Harry, most likely already knowing the answer.

"Er, almost every night since November," Harry muttered, running a hand nervously through his hair the way his father had in all the memories Harry had seen of him.

"I'm impressed by your restraint," Bill said, speaking for the first time in several minutes. "Not many eighteen-year-olds could manage that."

"Yeah, including you," Charlie teased. Bill glared at him.

"Especially if the girl in question wants it," George added, "which I'm sure Ginny does."

"Are you implying that she's a slag?" Ron asked, talking for the first time since Harry had entered the clearing.

"No!" George exclaimed. "I'm just saying that she loves Harry, and knows she'll be with him the rest of her life, and that she isn't a patient person in those circumstances."

"Yeah," Fred said nodding. "She doesn't like to wait for things that she know will eventually come if she doesn't know when it's coming."

"Okay?" Charlie asked, slightly confused, but choosing to ignore their antics.

"Since this has all been settled, we should go back inside before Ginny notices that we're all missing," Percy said, worriedly. The rest of them also got slightly worried expressions on their faces at that statement.

"For once in my life, I agree with Perce," Bill said, starting through the woods. "Oh, and by the way Potter, if you hurt her, you deal with _all_ of us, at once," Bill added as an afterthought.

Harry gulped and nodded. He knew he wouldn't hurt Ginny, but the threat was still there.

* * *

_December 25th 1998_

"Oi, Mate, wake up!" was the first thing Harry heard on Christmas morning, along with a pillow to the face.

Harry sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What?" he asked crossly. He had been having a very good dream about what he and Ginny could be doing once they got back to school again until Ron had rudely interrupted it by waking him up.

"It's Christmas, that's what," Ron answered, hopping out of his own bed. "We have presents to open," he announced, pointing to the piles at the ends of their beds. "Where'd Gin's present from you go anyway?"

"I brought it down after she fell asleep last night. Hopefully she'll see it this morning," Harry replied, starting to pull his presents from the end of his bed up onto his lap.

Just then, there was a loud screech from downstairs. Following that, there was a loud pop and something heavy fell on top of Harry. It wasn't until he felt lips on his that he realized it must have been Ginny apparating up from her room.

"Oi!" Ron objected. "I'm in here too you know!"

Ginny got off of Harry, blushing slightly, a small ball of what looked to be white fluff under the crook of her arm. "I love her!" she told Harry, giving him a more chaste kiss and grabbing the puff-ball, which was actually a very small, fluffy white kitten.

"I thought you would," Harry said, grinning happily at her reaction to his gift.

"I do. She's adorable. And her eyes are the exact same color as yours," Ginny added as an afterthought.

"Hey, Gin," Ron suggested, "since you're already up here let's open our presents together."

"Sure, why not," Ginny said with a shrug, pulling out her wand and waving it so that her presents appeared in a pile next to Harry's. She settled herself on the bed and started ripping the paper off, the boys following suit.

After opening everything, Ginny used a quick charm to vanish all the wrapping paper and then banished all of her stuff back down to her room, instead of trying to carry it. She settled to playing with her new pet, whom she had yet to name, as Harry had also given her anything that she would need to take care of it including food, toys, and a wicker basket to carry her in.

Around eight, Ron's stomach let out a loud rumble, and the smell of frying bacon was starting to move through the house, drawing the three out of Ron's room and down to the kitchen for breakfast.

Molly, Arthur, Teddy, and Percy were already there eating, or in Molly's case cooking, breakfast. Teddy had a stuffed animal that Harry had given him with him in his high-chair. It was a black dog that reminded Harry of Sirius, but Teddy seemed to love it, as he wouldn't let go of it even as he ate his cut up pieces of toast and bacon with one hand.

"Good morning, dears," Molly said, the first to notice them enter the room. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, Molly," Harry said, as the other two also wished her a good morning and a happy Christmas.

"Ginny, where did you get that kitten?" she asked after a moment, noticing the small white kitten only when Ginny sat down and put her onto her shoulder.

"Harry gave her to me," Ginny said, beaming at her boyfriend from across the table.

"Oh, well isn't she just precious," Molly said, looking at her closely. She was still tiny, with fluffy white fur, and green eyes, which were at the moment closed, as she seemed to have dosed off once up on Ginny's shoulder. "What have you named her, dear?"

Ginny furrowed her brows. "I'm not sure yet," she muttered. "I was deciding between Ice and Orchid."

"I'd go for Orchid," Ron put in. "It's more original."

"Good point, Ron," Ginny agreed, glancing at the sleeping ball of fur on her shoulder. "I dub thee, Orchid," she said promptly, petting the kitten with one single finger from the top of her head to the base of her tail. At this, the newly named Orchid stretched and yawned, showing off her tiny teeth before opening her eyes and sitting up on Ginny's shoulder, the tips of her ears barely reaching Ginny's own ear.

The family happily ate breakfast, thanking people for gifts and chatting aimlessly about school and quidditch. The twins and Charlie didn't appear from their rooms until after nine for breakfast. It was after ten by the time everybody had finished eating and talking and they were shooed out of the room by Molly. "I've got to cook! Out, out, out."

"Just so you know, Mum, Katie and Ange are coming too," George reminded her before he was completely banished from the kitchen until lunch time.

"And Penny," Percy added.

"Does anybody else have a surprise guest announcement?" Molly asked, looking slightly annoyed. She also gave an almost imperceptible glance towards Charlie.

He sighed. "Yes, Mum," he admitted. "I've got a guest coming too."

"Alright then," Molly said, closing the door in all of their faces before her cooking could be postponed any longer.

"So, Charlie?" Fred asked suggestively. "Who's the lucky lady who'll be coming as _your_ guest?"

Charlie just shrugged. "You know her, but I won't tell you more than that. You'll find out tonight."

"Well somebody is being secretive," George muttered. "I wonder who it could be..."

"I don't know Georgie, but it ought to be interesting," Fred replied. Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at each other. Ginny hadn't been paying attention to the exchange. Instead, she was introducing Orchid to Teddy, who was happily pulling the cat's fur. Fortunately, Orchid didn't seem to mind and wasn't trying to scratch at him or escape.

They spent the rest of the day relaxing. They played Wizard's Chess and Gobstones, chatted aimlessly, entertained Teddy, and ate a small lunch before it got to be five thirty and they had to change before their guests arrived. Bill and Fleur were also coming, along with the other three girls.

The Weasley kids and Harry all went to change into something nicer (but not dress robes) for the dinner. By the time they were all ready it was five minutes of six and Molly needed their help to get all of the food onto the table. Between the six Weasleys and Harry it was set in no time and Molly had taken the chance to change quickly before there was a knock on the door.

Ginny went to answer it and let in Bill, who hugged her, and Fleur, who kissed her cheeks. Ginny didn't mind this as much as she might have before, but she still wasn't Fleur's biggest fan.

"Bill, Fleur, you're here!" Molly exclaimed, rushing to give each of them a hug. "We're just waiting for Katie, Angelina, and a mysterious woman who's identity Charlie is keeping a secret." There was another knock on the door and Fred and George went to greet their girlfriends, Charlie following them.

"Katie! Ange! Welcome, welcome, please, come in," Fred said, ushering them inside, only to see a third person behind them.

"Alicia!" George said, surprised. "We didn't know the girls were bringing you."

"Oh, honestly," Alicia huffed, looking past them. "You didn't tell them I was coming," she said teasingly.

"I told them it was somebody they knew, just not who it was," Charlie replied, coming forward to meet her before taking her hand and kissing it.

"Oh, always the gentleman, huh, Charlie," Fred snorted, going to greet his own girlfriend properly with a peck on the lips. Angelina rolled her eyes at him, taking his hand.

"Of course," Charlie said with a glint in his eyes.

"Now, Charlie," Molly said from the other room, not having heard the arrival of Alicia as Charlie's date, "when is your date going to be here?"

"I'm already here, Mrs. Weasley," Alicia greeted as Molly entered the room.

Molly smiled at her. "I had a feeling it might be you, dear," she said. "I could have sworn that there was a spark between the two of you over the summer, and I suppose I was right, wasn't I?"

"Yes, Mum," Charlie said, rolling his eyes. "Now can we eat? It looks delicious."

"Of course, of course," she said, shuffling them all into the kitchen where Bill and Fleur were talking to Arthur and Harry, Ron, and Ginny were chatting about the Gryffindor quidditch team's chances for the cup. "Sit down everyone!" she commanded. "Time to eat."

They all sat, Molly at the head of the table, Arthur, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Alicia, Penelope, and Percy, on one side of the table, and Angelina, Fred, George, Katie, Ginny, Harry, and Ron on the other. Teddy was in a highchair a little ways behind the table, his food already having been given to him.

The meal was delicious, as was all the food that Molly made, and they passed the time talking about anything they already had or hadn't talked about that holiday. Harry talked to Fred and George a lot about how the shop was going, Angelina and Katie occasionally putting in comments. He figured that since he was their main financial starter he should keep up with how they were doing and what new products they were testing. There was one that was supposed to be a candy that caused you to burp uncontrollably, but they hadn't figured out how to integrate the burp-stopping potion into the candy and had to administer it separately. If they put it straight into the candy, then they wouldn't burp at all.

Ron seemed slightly glum throughout the meal, most likely because of Hermione's absence, but managed to snort at one of the stories about Katie burping uncontrollably for two days before they found the potion recipe to put her back to normal. It was hard to imagine the petite blond letting out ear-splitting burps randomly several times an hour.

After pudding, Charlie stood up at his place near the head of the table to get everybody's attention. He got straight to the point. "I'm going to be moving back to Britain," he announced, then went on to explain more fully. "I've been thinking about it and looking around and decided it was time for me to get closer to home again. There's a dragon preserve in northern Scotland that would be willing to take me. I'm coming back during the summer and finding somewhere to live here around the Easter Hols."

Molly jumped up and pulled her second-eldest son into a bone-crushing hug, obviously pleased to have him back. The others expressed their surprise and happiness, but Bill said to Alicia, "He must really like you to be leaving his favorite dragons."

There were chuckles at the remark and the night ended in high-spirits. Charlie, Fred, and George all escorted their girlfriends home and Bill and Fleur returned to Shell Cottage. The others all turned in for the night and Penelope flooed home after saying a quick goodbye to Percy.

Everyone slept well that night, including Ginny and Harry for once, stomach's filled with delicious food, tired from the constant chatter and full stomachs. It had been a good Christmas, and Teddy's first. He'd been spoiled by all the different gift-givers, and that was the truth of the matter. Hermione was coming on New Year's Eve, and they would have a blast. The twins would probably have something planned for the night. Everybody had something to look forward to, and nothing to worry about for the moment.

* * *

Did you like it? Hate it? Is it boring? Exciting? Tell me what you think in a review please!


	12. Chapter 12

Hehehe... Long time, no see, huh? Before you all start to mentally yell at me for not updating in so long, I do have excuses. I have had an extremely busy three weeks because it's almost the end of the school year (seven days left, counting finals) and finals are next week, so I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Then there are the award ceremonies, concerts, and friend drama just adding to the fun. Sometimes I wish life could be spread out, but where's the fun in that?

Oh, well. Here's the next chapter. I hope it's a good one.

~Robin

Disclaimer: My FIRST initial is 'R', not my last one. That should be enough evidence that I'm not JKR.

* * *

_Chapter 12_

_December 31st 1998_

"Kids!" Molly's voice called, ringing through the Burrow all the way up to Ron's room. "Hermione's arrived!"

Ron's head shot up. He had been antsy all day, not even able to sit still long enough to play a game of chess with Harry, not that Harry really wanted to play against Ron. He was just trying to keep his best mate's mind off of Hermione. He, Harry, and Ginny had been hanging out that day, as the twins were off with Katie and Angelina figuring out their final plans for that night, and Charlie and Percy were spending their days with Alicia and Penelope, respectively, even though they would all be seeing each other that night for a New Years' Eve party either way.

Basically, Ron was the only one not spending time with his girlfriend, and was moody because of it. Harry and Ginny were even together, although they weren't alone. They hadn't been left alone together for more than ten minutes since they had gotten to the Burrow, partially because of Ron, and partially because (they thought) the others were purposely entering any room that they were alone in. Ginny was getting increasingly more annoyed with them as time went on.

Ron ran down the stairs, but Ginny and Harry came to a silent consensus that they would stay there, giving Ron and Hermione a few minutes together, and allowing themselves a few minutes to be alone as well.

Ginny lost no time and crawled over to sit in Harry's lap, winding her arms around his neck and pulling his lips to hers. Harry kissed back, lips moving roughly as he opened her mouth with his tongue, eliciting a quiet moan from her and causing one of her hands to move farther up, into his hair.

Unfortunately, that was as far as they got before the door was flung open and Hermione and Ron entered, snogging of course.

"Ahem," Harry said, clearing his throat loudly to get his two best friends' attention.

They didn't change from their heated snogging, and in fact, moved over to sit on Ron's bed. "Oh, bloody hell," Ginny groaned, standing up and taking Harry's hand. "If they're going to snog in here, we're going to snog in my room."

Harry shrugged and followed her out, leaving Ron and Hermione snogging on the bed. After about ten more minutes, the two of them finally broke apart, gasping for breath and grinning at each other widely. "I missed you more than you could possibly believe," Hermione said quietly, cuddling up to her boyfriend's side.

"I think I can believe that, and more, considering that I missed you more than anyone could ever imagine," Ron said, teasing her gently. Then he looked around the room, frowning slightly.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked him.

"Harry and Ginny were in here. I wonder where they went..."

"I think they might have left when we came in snogging and didn't stop," Hermione pointed out, chuckling at his confused face.

Ron swore. "Now I have to go stop them from snogging," he complained, starting to stand up before Hermione forcefully pulled him back down onto the bed.

"No. You won't," she said firmly. Ron looked like he was about to protest. "I'm sure you've been doing that this whole holiday, and trying not to leave them alone, along with the rest of your brothers, which, if it continues, will only lead to a build-up of more sexual tension between the two of them, which will lead to something that you most definitely don't want to happen."

Ron opened his mouth, thought about he wanted to say, and then closed it again. He repeated this twice more before finally managing to get out, "So if we leave them alone all the time they're less likely to have sex than if we keep them apart all the time," sounding completely dumbfounded.

"Well, not all the time. But yes, if you keep them apart all the time then when they're finally alone they'll just go farther than they would have if they had been allowed some time together before, and hadn't been able to release all their built-up sexual tension," Hermione explained.

Ron nodded uncertainly, but eventually decided to just listen to whatever Hermione had to say. She was usually right about, well... everything. He kissed her again before saying quietly, "I love you."

"I love you too, you prat," Hermione sighed.

"I don't think I did anything there that made me deserve to be called a prat," Ron objected.

"Sorry, force of habit," Hermione shrugged, before placing a sound kiss on his lips once more, effectively shutting him up.

The two coupled finished their afternoons that way, before the rest of the Weasleys and their respective girlfriends started showing up back at the Burrow, ready for the party that had been promised for the night. Neville and his grandmother were also coming, along with Luna and her father, Lee Jordan, Hagrid, and a few others.

The area around the Burrow had some heating charms placed around it, courtesy of Bill, who had modified the spell from a wide-range freezing charm he had discovered in one of the tombs he found in Egypt. Because of that, they were able to hold the party outside instead of having everybody crammed into the the Burrow, which definitely would _not_ hold the forty-ish people that were going to be there.

As it got darker outside, the guests began to arrive. The biggest shock of the night was when Lee came, accompanied by none other than Padma Patil, Parvati's twin sister who was in Ravenclaw, who Lee had apparently fancied for a while at school and had asked out before Hogwarts had started in September that year. When Harry asked Ginny about this she replied, "Of course I knew! I just didn't think that you would care," before going off to talk with Alicia about the Holyhead Harpies, who Alicia was now playing quidditch for, and who Ginny was hoping to play for in the future.

By the time midnight was almost upon them, everyone had been drinking enough alcohol to be acting quite oddly. Hagrid was singing loudly in an extremely off-key voice, a large bottle of firewhiskey clutched in his huge hand. Fred, George, and Charlie had all disappeared into the woods around the house with their respective girlfriends. Even Molly and Arthur were laughing more than usual and looking slightly pink in the face.

At around five minutes to midnight, Fred and George had both appeared back and were happily setting up their boxes of fireworks, which were going to be set off right at the first moment of the new year. Harry went to find Ginny, as all of the other couples were already pairing themselves off, ready to bring in the new year together; a year free of Voldemort, Death Eaters, and unexpected attacks. They were ready to bring in a year that would be absent of fear for the first time in eight years.

Harry and Ginny found each other and pulled off into a secluded area under a tree, but still in full view of the party and fireworks. They joined the countdown with the rest of the group and when the fireworks went off, releasing their light and colors into the air, Ginny and Harry's lips met, just for a second, before parting again. But that second was the longest second they had ever felt. Bringing in the new year with the person they loved gave them an intense feeling of happiness and love, the meeting of their lips seemed to add to the firework display around them. "I love you, Harry," Ginny breathed after they separated.

"I love you too, Gin," Harry replied, leaning down to take her lips gently with his once more.

"Stay in my room tonight," Ginny whispered in his ear.

Harry thought about it. He really wanted to, that was true, but he couldn't. "I can't, Gin," he said regretfully.

"Nobody'll know. Fred, George, and Charlie will go home with their girlfriends, Percy never comes into my room, and Ron doesn't care. Plus we know that Mum and Dad'll have the other two wake us up. Nobody will be the wiser," she promised, looking at him pleadingly.

"I suppose I'll have to join you, then," Harry said, kissing her again, before they joined the party once more. It lasted a few more hours before people started to leave, and soon, the crowds were all gone, the yard looking slightly trampled and trashed, but easily fixable with magic, and the house was almost empty, with only six or seven people left in it.

Some of the fireworks were still scattered through the sky, occasionally letting of a small burst of light before blinking out, or another miniature explosion of sound, but not enough to keep the residents of the Burrow awake any longer.

Ron and Harry reached a silent agreement that Hermione and Harry would be switching places for the night, and the two couples went their separate ways at Ginny's room, Harry following his girlfriend in as Hermione and Ron continued up the stairs.

Ginny brought Harry over to her bed and took off her shirt, leaving herself with a tank-top on underneath, along with her jeans, which she wriggled out of before pulling on some pajama pants, too lazy to care whether Harry saw, and secretly wanting him to see. Harry did see, but tried not to concentrate on it as he took his sweater off, choosing to leave on his t-shirt and jeans.

"If you keep undressing in front of me, I might just give in to the temptation," Harry whispered seductively into her ear, running his hands up and down her sides.

"I'll just have to keep doing that then, won't I?" Ginny asked him with a cocked eyebrow climbing into her bed. Harry followed her without any hesitation and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him.

Harry chuckled and kissed her hair once before fading off into sleep. Ginny soon followed him, a contented smile on her face as she nestled herself deeper into Harry's arms.

* * *

_January 3rd 1999_

"Are you all ready yet?" Harry asked impatiently.

Ginny rolled her eyes at him. "Yes. Now let's go before your head explodes," she said, leading him out the door, Ron and Hermione following them. The four of them were going to a meeting at Gringott's that day about Harry's vault. He needed to know how much money he had inherited from both his parents, and from Sirius.

After they were out of the Burrow's front gate, they each apparted to the bottom of the steps outside of Gringotts, the huge white marble building looming high over their heads.

Harry took Ginny's hand and, Ron and Hermione following them, they headed into the grand building. Harry went up to one of goblins at a desk that was ready to assist the witches and wizards wishing to make transactions.

"Excuse me?" he asked, getting the goblin's attention.

The goblin turned to face him and looked down his long crooked nose in the direction of the four young witches and wizards. "Yes?" he asked.

"I'm Harry Potter and I set up a meeting to day about the contents of my vault," Harry said quickly, wanting to escape the goblin's piercing stare.

"Ah, yes," the the goblin said, looking at a list he had written on his desk. He hopped down from his chair. "Please follow me to one of our meeting rooms." He looked at Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. "Do you wish for the rest to accompany you?"

"Of course," Harry said, gesturing for them to come with him. They trailed behind the goblin, who lead them to a large glass door and bowed them in.

The foursome entered to see another goblin already inside who immediately stood up to greet them. "Hello, Mr. Potter, I presume," he said, turning to Harry and bowing.

"That would be me," Harry said.

"Of course. I am Hingorn. I have been in charge of the Potter vaults since your grandparents' youth," Hingorn said, introducing himself.

"Vaults?" Harry asked, surprised. He had only known about the one vault before. The one he thought of as his vault.

"Yes, the Potter family has an everyday vault for normal storage and much of their gold, the vault that contains your direct inheritance, along with a deeper family vault with relics that were taken from the Potter manor after your parents' deaths," Hingorn explained, taking a seat, and gesturing for the four of them to do the same.

"Wow," Harry said, shocked.

"The Potter family has been collecting treasures and riches for many generations, Mr. Potter," Hingorn said. "I understand that you need to know the contents of each of these vaults?"

"Yes, that would be great," Harry said.

"Well, the vault that you have been going to since you rejoined our world, contains only the gold your parents allowed to get you through your school years, along with your inheritance from Mr. Black, and the belongings of your parents' that were in their house at their death and were moved from the general storage vault when you came of age." Harry nodded, having already seen this. "The general storage vault has more gold from both the Potters and Blacks, along with the rest of your parents' belongings that were not in their house, and everything that was in Potter Manor when your grandparents' died."

"So what's left in the older vault?" Harry asked Hingorn curiously.

"Ah, yes. That would be the tapestries, paintings, and other decorations, that were in Potter Manor. There are also many of the remaining family jewels, plates, cups, and other heirlooms that once were used in or decorated the manor," Hingorn explained.

"And what about property?" Harry questioned.

"The Potter family owns the cottage in Godric's Hollow and Potter Manor, which is a few miles outside of the village, in Britain. You also own a townhouse in Paris, France, a home in the French countryside, a beach house in Los Angelas, California, and a Villa in southern Italy. Mr. Black also left you the Black family home and a flat over Diagon Alley," Hingorn said, reading from a piece of parchment that he had taken from a file on the table.

Harry could feel the stares of the other three on him, but tried let his mouth fall open at the sheer amount of stuff that he owned. It was so foreign to him because of how he had lived with the Dursley's for the first ten years of his life, back when he hadn't known that he owned anything and had been living only on what they would allow him.

"Would you like to see the vaults, Mr. Potter?" Hingorn asked, breaking the temporary silence in the room.

"Just the everyday vault and my own, please," Harry said, snapping out of his thoughts. "I'll save the family vault until after I'm out of Hogwarts and have time to deal with everything in it."

"Excellent," Hingorn said, picking up his papers. "If you would follow me, we'll go down to the everyday vault first and then pay a visit to your own."

The four followed him in silence to the track where the carts were and climbed in. Harry sat up front with Hingorn while Ginny, Ron, and Hermione filed into the back.

As soon as they were all settled down, the cart shot off through the twisting passageways. Harry, as usual, enjoyed the ride, but everybody else, when they got to their final destination, were looking a little bit green.

The four teenagers followed as Hingorn led them to a large door. Unlike Harry's personal vault, this one had no key-hole. Instead, Hingorn ran one of his claw-like fingernails down a short length of the door. The click of gears turning echoed quietly through the tunnel as the door's magical mechanisms unlocked and the door slid slowly open, revealing a large room filled with furniture; chests, trunks, filled bookshelves, wardrobes, chairs, and boxes were taking up the majority of space in the room. Besides those, there was also a large area that was just filled with more gold. It was about the same amount that Harry had in his vault.

"Wow, Harry. This stuff is amazing," Hermione breathed. "Do you see the craftsmanship on this chest. The carving are so intricate and beautiful."

Harry walked over to where she was standing in front of a large mahogany chest. The details were so small that he couldn't understand how anybody could possible have carved them into the wood. Then he realized that they had probably used magic, and so unlike Muggles, it would have been relatively easy, if time consuming, to carve the patterns.

Hermione was already standing up to look at something else before Harry said, "Um, Hermione. We don't really have time to look through everything in detail right now. I was just going to look around and then sort through everything properly during the summer."

"Of course," Hermione retorted with a small roll of her eyes. "I was just looking at this one because it caught my eye. Look," she said, pointing to the the small gap where the top and bottom of the small chest met. There were pieces of parchment that looked like they were overflowing it. Hermione handed it to him and Harry tried to open it, but it had a lock on it. He tried to think of whether he had a key anywhere before he remembered the key to his vault. He took the tiny golden key out of his pocket and inserted it into the gold lock on the front of the chest. He heard a small click and the top popped up, several papers flying out. Ginny and Ron, who had been attempting to make their way around the rest of the room, came over to the other two, who were grabbing the spilled papers from the ground and putting them back on top of the other ones in the box.

"What are all those?" Ron asked curiously.

"Dunno," Harry answered, starting to flip through them curiously, taking a cursory glance at each as he picked it up before moving onto the next. His eyes widened. "They look like letters, some of them. All addressed to me from my parents." He skimmed through one. "It's about managing the Potter estates," he said. "There are deeds to the properties in here too," he added, seeing the more official-looking documents located on the bottom of the chest, all folded neatly.

"That's terrific Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "These should explain everything you need to know. We can help you go through it all during the summer before we start working."

"You just gave our summers away without asking us," Ginny pointed out to Hermione.

"Like you wouldn't help either way," Hermione retorted.

"Of course I would," Ginny said with a grin. Ron rolled his eyes and looked around the whole room in slight awe, still taking in how much his best mate owned.

Harry closed all the papers and letter back into the chest before taking out his wand and shrinking it. He put it into his pocket and turned to Hingorn, who had been waiting patiently by the door as the foursome perused the vault. "We'll go up to my main vault now," Harry said to the goblin, who nodded and gestured that he would follow them out. They four teens climbed back into the cart while Hingorn closed the vault before waddling back to the cart.

The cart flew off, heading up to the higher levels of the bank where Harry's regular vault was. After a couple of minutes, it screeched to a halt and the passengers all scrambled out. Harry gave Hingorn his key and the goblin inserted it into the hidden keyhole before handing it back to Harry as the vault door swung open.

"Now," Hingorn explained, "this vault contains the trust fund your parents left you, the additional two million galleons that was transferred when you came of age, and the Black fortune and vault contents. The Black vault contents have been moved to the back and I can give you a detailed list of all of that along with anything else that you would like to have a copy of."

"Thank you Hingorn. I'll just take out some gold right now, but can I get a copy of that whole folder to look through?" Harry requested.

"Of course," Hingorn said. He snapped his fingers and gave the now copied folder to Harry, keeping the other for himself. Harry took the offered folder and shrunk it to put in his pocket along with the chest of letters and documents. He then took out his money bag and filled it with gold before exiting the vault, the door swinging closed behind him and locking with a loud series of clicks.

The foursome boarded the cart again and it took them on one last stomach-turning journey to the main tunnel where all the carts left from. Hingorn escorted them to the door and told Harry that they could arrange a meeting any time before the two couples left Gringott's. They went to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch before going back to the Burrow.

* * *

_January 5th 1999_

The whistle went off one last time before the Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station, full of students returning for the winter term, families waving them off from the platform. Harry, Ginny, Neville, and Luna were sitting in a compartment, waiting for Ron and Hermione to be done with their Prefect meeting.

The last two days at the Burrow had mainly been filled with finishing up homework and looking through Harry's folder, but that job still had a lot left of it to do.

After about a half an hour of mindless chatting on the train, Hermione and Ron came in and sat down next to each other. Harry and Ginny had the two seat across from them while Neville and Luna were sitting across from each other closest to the compartment door.

"How was the meeting?" Harry asked them.

"Pretty good," Hermione answered at the same time that Ron said, "Boring."

Hermione glared at him, as she had been the one running the meeting. Ernie MacMillan, who was Head Boy that year, had stayed at Hogwarts over the Holiday, so she had been the only Head on the train.

"We just went over the patrol schedule for the ride and a couple things that McGonagall wanted me to mention," Hermione told Harry.

Harry nodded and turned back to Ginny, who was reading through a recent copy of Witch Weekly. He took a glance at her page and was shocked to see a picture of himself taking up most of the left page. Ginny looked up to see Harry reading over her shoulder, a confused look on his face. "It's a personality quiz. 'How Close is the Chosen One to Choosing You?'" she read from the top of the page.

"Do they have a lot of those?" Harry asked her.

"Eh, there's something related to you about every other issue. For a few months you were in every issue, but the hype is starting to die down a little bit now. Plus they know you have a girlfriend. For a couple of weeks after the world found that out they tried to speculate when we would break up, but then they gave up on that prospect around October and are exclaiming about what a great couple we are," Ginny explained.

Harry was open-mouthed. "It's quite true, Harry," Luna said. "Many girls across the country are very much in love with you."

Harry's mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out of it. Eventually he just gave up trying to come up with a proper response and instead turned to glare at Ginny, who had been laughing hysterically at him. When she saw his glare her laughs subsided to hiccups. "Oh, please," she snorted. "If it was me you'd be laughing as much as I was."

"I don't really think I would. I'd probably be trying to hunt down all the guys who want you for themselves," Harry replied teasingly; however, he was actually very serious. Ginny was his, and nobody else's.

"You have nothing to worry about," Ginny said, rolling her eyes and giving him a quick peck on the lips. Harry smiled at her and pulled her into his lap.

"Is everybody in this compartment going to be snogging soon?" Neville asked, bringing Harry and Ginny out of their own little world that they had temporarily fallen into.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, then saw Ron and Hermione snogging in their seat. "Oh, them. They've been snogging almost constantly since Hermione came back from her parents'. Ron claims that they're 'making up for lost time.'" Harry explained.

"It's actually quite disgusting to watch," Luna said dreamily.

"Yeah, we usually try to leave the room whenever they start at it," Ginny said, throwing the entwined couple a disgusted look. "Now, can we get back to our snogging?" she asked, turning to face Harry again and looking at him expectantly.

"We never really started but I'd be perfectly fine with that," Harry said with a grin, placing a kiss on Ginny's lips. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand winding into his hair and pulling his lips closer to hers.

"If everybody is going to kiss then we should probably close the shades," Luna pointed out to Neville. He blushed scarlet and leaned over to pull the shade down. He leaned back against his seat again and tried in vain for several minutes to ignore the two snogging couples in the compartment, instead focusing on his girlfriend.

Luna was staring dreamily out the window, her blond hair hanging in a sheet over her shoulder, and her grey eyes with their specks of silver and blue wide and bright.

Suddenly, Luna looked back and met Neville's eyes. "You know, Neville, the scars on your face make you look quite handsome, in a rugged way," she said thoughtfully.

"Er, do they?" Neville said awkwardly, scratching around his collar, which had seemed to become quite itchy and warm in a very short amount of time.

"Yes," Luna said mildly. "I'd very much like to snog you right now," she finished before crossing the small space between them and planting her lips on his. Neville relaxed, wrapping his arms around her. It just felt natural to kiss Luna, even if it was odd that there were two other snogging couples around them and that they were in a compartment of a moving train.

There was the sound of the sliding door to the compartment opening. "Damn it!" somebody swore, causing the attention of the three snogging couples to turn to the newcomer.

"Hello, Dean," Luna said politely. "Would you like to come in?"

"Well, I _was_ trying to get away from Parvati and Lavender gossiping, but apparently that's not going to work," Dean tried to explain.

"Next time don't walk into a compartment when the shade's drawn," Ron suggested.

"Yes, and _you_ should be teaching him common sense," Ginny snorted. Ron scowled at her.

"Why were you trying to escape anyway?" Harry asked quickly. "Just try to change the subject or something."

"Well, I would have, but I really just wanted to be alone with Parvati since we haven't seen each other for three weeks, but apparently I'm not in her agenda right now," Dean complained.

"You mean you wanted to snog and she didn't?" Luna clarified. Dean nodded. "You should know that most girls don't want to just snog all the time."

There was a moment of silence. Then normal conversation started back up, the shade was put back to its usual position, and Dean left to go find Parvati again. The train ride from there on went as normal, and the returning feast was a good welcome back. The seventh years knew that they were about to get a huge increase in workload, along with having to start thinking about job applications, but decided to put it off from their minds for the moment, preferring to keep their work-less evening stress-free. It was certain that for the next five months until their N.E.W.T.'s there wouldn't be many evenings like it.

* * *

Yay! Another chapter done, and another should be on its way soon. Please, please review. I know I've been neglecting you lately, but you don't have too neglect me to get even. Please tell me what you thought of the chapter!


	13. Chapter 13

Er. Sorry. I know, three months is much too long. That's really all I can say here. I understand if you never forgive me. Well, here it is. Chapter thirteen.

~Robin

Disclaimer: I'm not her. If I was her, than I would already be in Pottermore, rather than waiting impatiently for my welcome email.

* * *

_April 14th 1999_

The next three months passed more quickly than anybody could have expected. The second quidditch game of the season came and went, with cold and wet practices preceding it and Gryffindor pulling out a win because of Harry's spectacular catch of the snitch, bringing them into the lead for the house cup.

During February, Valentine's Day comes and goes without a hitch, except for the usual arguments in teenage relationships.

The third quidditch game comes and goes, Hufflepuff barely pulling a win out over Slytherin because of a quick capture of the snitch.

As their N.E.W.T.'s get closer and closer, more and more work is steadily piled into the seventh years' already tight schedules. Before any of them realized it, it was the evening before the start of the Easter Holidays. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all up in Hermione's room, away from the crowds in the common room.

Harry had Ginny sitting in between his legs on the floor, her head resting against his chest, as he attempted to beat Ron at Wizards' Chess, something that, to that date, had never happened. Harry was just getting hopeful that he might pull it out when Ron smirked at him across the board, moves his queen one square to the left and says, "Checkmate."

Harry swore. "I almost thought I had that one," he muttered sullenly.

"Face it, mate. You'll never beat me," Ron said smugly.

"It's true, Harry. You're just no good at this game," Ginny said. Harry stuck his tongue out at her. "Real mature, Potter," she said, rolling her eyes and turning around to give him a peck on the lips.

Ron attempted to ignore them and turned to look at Hermione, who was lying on her bed, frowning over a piece of parchment and scratching something out with her quill.

"Why don't you take a break from studying, Hermione. It's the last night before break. You'll have plenty of time this week," Ron suggested, making his way over to sit on the edge of her bed.

Her eyes flicked to him quickly before they moved back to her parchment, her cheeks looking slightly red. "I can't, Ron. N.E.W.T.'s are important, and I need to pass with flying colors to make any difference once I join the ministry. I can't just expect to be given a job because of my part in the war," she said impatiently, like she had explained it several times before. "Please, just leave me be so I can finish this," she asked.

"Fine," Ron said quietly, his eyes downcast. "If that's what you want. I, er, have to finish some packing anyway."

"Kay," Hermione said absently.

"I'll go with you, mate. I've got a couple other things to pack too," Harry said, standing up and pulling Ginny up with him. "You coming?" he asked her.

"No, I'm gonna stay up here a bit longer," Ginny said, looking shrewdly at Hermione, who's eyes, she had noticed, were not moving back and forth as they would be if she was actually reading the parchment in front of her. She gave Harry a peck on the lips and he followed Ron out as Ginny made her way to sit on Hermione's bed, taking Ron's place.

"So," she said calmly, removing Hermione's quill and parchment easily from her grasp, "are you going to tell me why you've really been pushing Ron away, and why a pair of your panties is sitting behind your lamp?" Ginny asked with her eyebrows raised.

Hermione knew that there was no avoiding the questioning and sat up to meet Ginny's eyes. There was a pink blush slowly rising to color her cheeks. "Well, I've, er, been trying to study, so I haven't really had much time for him lately," Hermione muttered, pausing several times, her blush only increasing steadily as she spoke.

"Right," Ginny said sarcastically. "Now, are you going to tell me the real reason?"

Hermione took a deep breath and started talking slowly. "Well, it was around two weeks ago. I was up here studying when Ron came in. I was perfectly happy to take a break, so I put my books and everything away and we started snogging. We were farther than we'd ever gotten before when I realized that I was, you know, _ready_," Hermione said.

"Wait? You didn't!" Ginny gasped. Hermione nodded, biting her lip. Ginny knew she would have been blushing even more deeply if she could have. "What was it like?" she asked.

"Er, well, it hurt a bit at first, but then it was nice, wonderful," Hermione said, grinning bashfully.

Ginny shivered. "Ew, I just remembered that we were talking about my brother," she groaned. Then she froze. "Wait, if you did that, then why have you been so distant with him lately?" she asked curiously.

Hermione looked down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. "I'm just so embarrassed," she whispered.

"Embarrassed? Why are you embarrassed?" Ginny asked.

"Well..." Hermione paused. Then everything just came spilling out. "What if I wasn't good enough? What if now that we've done that he doesn't want me anymore? I don't know what he thinks! It's so stupid, but I can't even look at him without thinking about it! What's wrong with me, Ginny?" she asked seriously.

Ginny sat in shock for a moment before shaking herself out of it. "You're so stupid!" she exclaimed. "Of course you were good enough! And he loves you! Even if you weren't good he wouldn't leave. You just need to talk to him. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you didn't talk about it afterwards, then you might be in a bit of a situation. You are going to march down to that dormitory, snog him senseless, and tell him that you need to talk!" she commanded.

Hermione just stared at her friend. "Thank you!" she exclaimed before giving Ginny a huge hug and running out of the room to go talk to Ron. She rushed into the boys' dormitory, ignored Harry's questioning look and launched herself at Ron, kissing him full on the lips and wrapping her arms tight around his neck to bring his mouth lower and closer to hers'. When she finally released him, she turned his head and whispered, "Come to my room tonight. I have something I need to tell you," seductively into his ear. Then she walked out of the room and left him standing there, dazed.

She burst back into her room to see Ginny waiting eagerly for a report. She sat down on the bed. "Well, I snogged him and then whispered to him to come here tonight and that I had something to tell him," Hermione said, waiting for approval.

"Perfect," Ginny said with a sly grin. "Now, we just need your outfit," she said, flitting to Hermione's wardrobe. Hermione was extremely confused until Ginny said, "You can wear your bathrobe over it until you start snogging and he removes it," she said. Hermione blushed deeply again, but agreed to put what Ginny had given her on later, ready to make her silence the last couple of weeks up to the boy she loved.

Later that night, Ginny was lying in bed with Harry when she heard Ron get up from the next bed over. She followed the sound of his footsteps over to the door, which clicked closed softly behind him.

"Why is Ron leaving the room?" Harry asked Ginny in a whisper, causing her to jump. He had been quiet for around ten minutes and she thought that he had actually fallen asleep.

"Merlin! Don't do that! I thought you were asleep," Ginny scolded him. "And why do you think that I would know?" she asked.

"I'm not stupid. I know you talked to Hermione about something and then she came in here and snogged Ron right in front of me," Harry told her.

Ginny turned to face him. "You're too observant for your own good. And I can't tell you. It's not my secret to tell. One of them will tell you when they're ready," she said stubbornly.

"Fine," Harry sighed. He kissed her gently for a second before starting to pull back. Ginny, however, had other ideas. She pulled his mouth forcefully back to hers before slipping her tongue into his mouth. Harry groaned quietly before they lost themselves in the kiss.

* * *

_April 16th 1999_

"Why should I be the one who has to tell them?" Harry asked.

"Well, it _is_ your house," Hermione said, the other two nodding in agreement.

"But there's no way that they'll let Gin come with me to my house for three days!" Harry objected.

"They might, as long as you make sure that they know that we're going too," Ron said, gesturing to himself and Hermione.

"Yes, and if you think that I can't get them to let me go, you are sadly mistaken, Mr. Potter," Ginny said to him. "I am of age, technically, I can leave this house whenever I want to. I'm only asking out of sheer politeness," she reminded him.

"Alright, fine!" Harry exclaimed hotly, leading his friends down to the sitting room where Molly and Arthur were conversing quietly.

Harry cleared his throat and they turned to look at him. "What is it, Harry, dear?" Molly asked him, smiling.

"Well, you see, Molly, over Christmas break the four of us went to Gringott's to see to my accounts, and I was told that I have lots of properties. One of them is the Potter Manor outside of Godrich's Hollow, and I haven't exactly seen it yet. It might also need some fixing up, so I was wondering if it would be alright for us to go over there?" he asked uncertainly.

"Of course you can go, dear. You're of age and we're not your parents. You don't have to ask us, although its nice to be told," Molly said. "And Ginny, I was wondering if you could help me around the house tomorrow. There are a couple things that I need to do..."

"Er, Mum," Ginny cut in. "He meant all four of us going," Ginny said, gesturing between them all. Molly looked at them all and started to say something, but Arthur stopped her.

"You can't really stop them, Molly. All four of them are of age and mature enough to handle themselves for a few days alone," he reminded her.

"I wasn't going to disagree, Arthur. You don't have to jump to conclusions," Molly scolded. "Of course they can go. How long are you planning on staying?"

"Er, three or four days probably. We're leaving tomorrow morning," Harry said, surprised at how easy it had been.

"I'll have breakfast ready for you early, and make sure that you do your packing tonight. You don't want to be running around in the morning trying to find everything at the last minute," Molly reminded them as they left the room.

They walked back up the stairs to the first landing and Hermione said, "See, Harry. It wasn't that bad at all. In fact, they agreed fairly quickly," she mused.

"Yeah," Harry said, running his hand through his hair and making it stand up even more than usual. "Alright, I guess we should all go pack then," he said, giving Ginny a quick peck before going up the stairs to Bill's old room, where he liked to stay with Teddy during the holidays in order to spend as much time with his godson as possible.

* * *

_April 17th 1999_

Harry felt lips on his, and, thinking it was a continuation of his dream, reached out and pulled the warm body in front of him down around the waist, so that Ginny was lying on top of him. Their kiss deepened, but soon Ginny pulled away. That was strange. That never happened in his dreams. "Harry, wake up," Ginny whispered, giggling slightly as she sat up off of him.

Harry's eyes opened to see his girlfriend sitting on his bed and he sat up to give her a good morning kiss. "You can wake me up like that everyday, if you like," he told her huskily.

"Yes, I can see that you're happy to see me," Ginny said with a giggle, her eyes traveling downward a little farther than he normally would.

He flushed, embarrassed, and sat up more fully, causing the blankets to fall down around his waist and reveal his bare torso. Ginny sucked in a breath, causing Harry to smirk in her direction. "Like what you see?" he asked innocently.

"Shut it, you prat," she said, standing up. "We're leaving right after breakfast, by the way. Oh, and bring your swim trunks," she told him. "You have no idea what's going to be at the manor. I'm bringing mine," she finished with a saucy wink, before exiting the bedroom, swinging her hips a little more than was strictly necessary a contented smirk on her face.

Harry groaned as soon as the door shut behind her. The little minx! Was she trying to kill him? He thought for a moment and then deduced that this was probably the case before standing up. He needed a cold shower before he got dressed.

Ten minutes later, Harry emerged from his room once again, hair wet and messy on top of his head, before making his way downstairs. He would have brought Teddy with him, but he had been sleeping so peacefully that Harry hadn't wanted to wake him up yet. It wasn't even seven thirty in the morning yet anyway, and he knew that babies needed a lot more sleep than adults.

He smelt the breakfast before he walked into the kitchen. Molly saw him and loaded up his plate with food before handing it to him. "Make sure you eat up, dear. You won't have anybody to cook for you for the next few days, you know," she reminded him.

"We'll be fine, Molly," Harry said after taking a bite of his eggs. They were delicious, as usual. "We can always order in, and I at least know how to make breakfast," he added with a shrug.

Molly tutted and muttered something under her breath, but went back to busting around the kitchen. Harry shared a look with Ron, who was sitting across from him at the table, and rolled his eyes. Ron grinned before going back to his food, scarfing it down with his usual enthusiasm.

A little while later, the four of them were ready to go. Hermione had put all of their packing into her charmed beaded bag so that they could carry it easily. Harry took a deep break before taking Ginny's hand and spinning on his heal, think _Potter Manor_ desperately in his head. After being sucked through the void of apparation he landed hard, Ginny landing beside him, still holding his hand. Ron and Hermione appeared with a quiet crack a moment later.

Then, to Harry's great surprise, two more, louder cracks sounded, and two house-elves appeared in front of them.

The six looked at each other for just a moment before one of the house-elves, who appeared to be female, collapsed, sobbing hard, in front of Harry. "Master James!" she squealed. "But you were dead! We was told that you and Mistress Lily were dead! Gone!" she sobbed.

The other house-elf, however, was looking at Harry more critically. "Annie," he started, obviously talking to the house-elf that was howling in front of Harry. "Annie, I don't think that this is Master James. You know Master James is gone, for a long time now. He has Mistress Lily's eyes."

"Er-" Harry cut in, extremely confused. "If you don't mind me asking, who exactly are you?" he asked.

"Oh, we is sorry, sir. But I am Glen, and she is Annie. We have been house-elves for the Potters since Master James started at Hogwarts. And, if I may ask, is you his son, Master Harry?"

"Er, yeah, I am," Harry said, startled. He hadn't even known that his parents had had house-elves, although he supposed that they hadn't lived at the cottage and had probably been taking care of the manor while nobody had been living there for the past almost twenty years. "Oh, and these are my friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and my girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. I found out about my inheritance a few months ago and thought that we should come see the manor, since I'll be living here after school is over in June," Harry explained, pointing the other three out as he introduced them.

"Yes, sir, we is very happy to have you, sir," Annie said. "And I is very sorry for getting upset in front of you."

"It's alright," Harry told her. Then a thought struck him. "Er, so I actually have another house-elf, Kreacher, that I inherited from my Godfather, Sirius Black. He's working at Hogwarts right now, but would it be alright it I asked him to come here instead. It's probably tough on just the two of you to keep this place clean by yourselves," he mused.

"That would be fine, sir, but we should get you settled in first. Maybe it would be best to wait for tomorrow?" Glen asked uncertainly.

"Yes, that sounds good," Harry said. The other three had stayed silent the entire time. "Er, could you take our things and set rooms up for us all?" Harry asked. "We're only staying for a few days, but it would be nice to be unpacked a little bit more. And," Harry blushed at this, "could you put mine and Ginny's stuff in one room, and Ron and Hermione's stuff in another?" he asked uncertainly.

"Of course, sir. We will start right away," Annie said, taking the beaded bag from Hermione as it was handed to her. "If you wait here for a few minutes then we can give you a tour of the manor and grounds after we is done," she told him. Harry nodded and the two elves apparated away again with two loud cracks.

Harry turned around to see Hermione glaring at him. "Harry!" she demanded. "How could you not have told me that you owned two more house-elves! Just Kreacher is bad enough, but-eurgh-I can't believe you!" she scolded him.

"Hermione, look," Harry said quickly before she started ranting again, "I didn't even know until we got here and they showed up. I mean, I thought it might be possible, because of the amount of money in the Potter family, but I never knew for sure. Anyway, I'm sure that they're treated much more kindly than Dobby and Kreacher and Winky were. If you want, you can even ask them about it later, all right," Harry told her, cutting off all of her arguments.

"Fine," she huffed.

In the temporary silence, the four of them took a good look around the entrance hall that they were standing in. On one wall was a fireplace that was obviously meant for flooing, as it was a good foot taller than even Ron. On the other was was a large double doorway that Harry assumed led to more rooms. In front of them, was a large, sweeping marble staircase that lead up to the second floor, and another large set of doors to the left of it.

"Wow, this is amazing, Harry," Ginny said to him.

Harry wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his side before whispering in her ear, "Yeah, it is, and some day you're going to share it with me." As soon as the words came out he realized just how true they were.

Two cracks interrupted the moment and Annie and Glen reappeared in the entrance hall. "Your rooms are set up," Glen told them. "We is ready to give you a tour now. Would you like to start with the manor or the grounds?" he asked.

"Let's start with the manor and then work our way outside," Harry said after a moment of thought. Glen bowed his head and lead them off to the doors leading to the side first.

Through them was a large office. One wall was covered in bookshelves, some of which were filled, but most were empty. There was a large desk in each corner that were neat and orderly. On one wall was another set of doors that into a huge library. Hermione let out a gasp and Harry grinned at her. Every shelf was full of books of every size and color imaginable. Harry knew where she would be spending a lot of time in the next few days.

After the library, they were lead into a formal sitting room and a formal dining room, along with a large ballroom that took up most of the left side of the house. They then reentered the entrance hall through the doors next to the staircase. There was a door under the stairs that lead to a half-bathroom with a small closet inside.

Harry noticed that this part of the house seemed to be very formal.

The next floor, however, was quite different. This was obviously where the family spent most of their time. On the left side of the staircase was a large sitting room. There was a huge couch in the middle of the room along with some armchairs grouped around it that were gathered in front of a fireplace. This reminded Harry greatly of the Gryffindor common room and he grinned to himself. Towards the back of the room, there were two steps up that lead into a kitchen. It was a little on the older side, but Harry figured that it could be renovated easily. It was huge and in the middle was an island for chopping and storage. In one corner, there were some booth-like window seats and a table with some chairs on the other side that Harry assumed most family meals would take place at.

Off to one side of the kitchen was a door leading to another half bathroom. They were lead through another door that had a bunch of armchairs and a few more bookshelves that were filled with pleasure books. It was a reading room is what Annie told them. Glen lead them back out to the stairs and to the right side of the house. "The master suite is the bedroom at the end of the hall," he said in his squeaky voice. "That is where you, sir, and Miss Ginny will be staying. Miss Hermione and Master Ron with be in the room the last door on the left," he told them.

"Thank you, Glen," Harry said awkwardly, not used to being called sir. "Erm, how many bedrooms are in the manor?" he asked.

"There is the master suite, and then there is six other suites with a bathroom and a sitting room. All of these have the sitting room below with the bedroom up above. Then, upstairs there is six more bedrooms with bathrooms in the North Wing. You can also get to the bedrooms from upstairs," he told them.

There were thirteen bedrooms. That was more than Harry had ever heard before. And seven of them were suites! It was strange to think that he owned a house that could hold so many people. "Thank you, Glen," Harry said. He looked at his watch, it was already eleven thirty. That tour had taken much longer than he had thought. "Erm, could you two get lunch ready?" he asked. "We'll take a look in all the bedrooms and then go to the kitchen to eat."

"Of course, sir. We'll have lunch ready in one hour," Annie said with a curtsy before disappearing with a crack to the kitchen. Glen followed her and Harry and the others were alone again.

"Harry, this whole house is incredible," Hermione said. "I can't believe that library. Think about how many generations of knowledge was held in there," she said, trailing off, a distant look in her eyes.

Harry chuckled. "Earth to Hermione," he said to her. "Let's go take a look at those bedrooms."

"Yes, let's," Ron said, winking at Hermione, who blushed and smacked his arm. Ginny smirked at her, but Harry was already leading the way down the hall and hadn't noticed anything.

The other three quickly followed him as he opened the door to the first room. It lead into a small sitting room with a fireplace on one wall, bookshelves on the other, and a narrow staircase set in the corner. The furnishings of the room were all bright green and blue, and the wood appeared to be oak. They went up the stairs to the bedroom and saw that that room was done in the same colors. There were two doors leading off of it. One lead into a private bathroom with a tub and shower, and one lead into a walk-in closet.

They moved through each of the rooms one by one. The one across the hall had blue and silver furniture with cherry wood and a wrought-iron spiral staircase that lead up to the next level. The one after that had green furniture with walnut wood and a normal staircase again. After that was a red and gold one with ebony trim and a ladder leading up to the next level. Harry had a feeling that this had most likely been his father's bedroom and felt a slight twinge in his gut. He shook himself and moved on to the next one, which was all different shades of purple with white painted trim. It also had a ladder leading up to the bedroom. The last room had dark blue and white decor with mahogany trim and another spiral staircase. That was where the elves had put Hermione and Ron's things.

After they exited that room they were facing a set of double doors that lead to the master bedroom. He assumed that this would be where he and Ginny were staying, as their things hadn't been in any of the other rooms. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

The sitting room was larger than any of the others had been, with a large couch and a couple of armchairs gathered around the fireplace, which was smoldering and casting a warm glow into the room. The decor was mostly black and white, with hints of color everywhere. The couch was black leather and the armchairs matched. The walls were white and there were pictures in black and white hung on them. Harry recognized a few of them as ones that he had copies of in the photo album that Hagrid had given to him at the end of his first year.

He pulled Ginny with him up the white marble spiral staircase in the back of the room and up to the bedroom. The bed was huge, was Harry's first thought as he entered. It was king-sized with black silk sheets and pillow cases and a fluffy black and white patterned comforter. The wood was dark and was hung with black hangings forming a canopy. There was a white carpet covering the whole floor. Harry and Ginny made their way to the first of two doors. It opened up into a huge closet, lined with shelves on one side and bars on the other for hanging things up. There was also plenty of little cubbies that were obviously supposed to be filled with shoes. Ginny grinned at him and they retreated from the closet and moved to the next door.

Seeing it, both their mouths literally dropped. It was a huge bathroom. There was a toilet in one corner and a counter-top with two sinks in it in front of a huge mirror. That, however, was not what had caught their eyes. There was a huge, glassed-in shower that had several different heads, so that you could get sprayed with water from several directions. But, even better, next to it was a huge tub. It must have been almost five feet deep and ten feet long in both directions with countless spouts that Harry guessed would fill the tub with different types of bubble-bath, similar to in the Prefect's bathroom at Hogwarts.

"What's taken you guys so long?" Ron asked from behind them. "Wow, this is amazing. I mean, Hermione's and mine isn't bad, but this is brilliant," he said, gaping at the bathroom.

"We should get down to eat, you two. It's almost twelve thirty," Ginny said, suddenly shaken from her thoughts of what she might be able to get Harry to do, using this bathroom, in the next few days. She smiled inwardly at the thought.

"Yeah, you're right," Harry said, checking his watch quickly. The three of them went down to see Hermione waiting on the huge leather couch and the four of them made their way downstairs, absolutely delighted by what they had seen of the house so far. And that was only the inside!

* * *

Okay, yeah, I know, not a great ending, but I wrote most of this chapter in one sitting and I kind of wanted to save the grounds for the next one, so that I can actually have something a bit more interesting happen.

Anyway, I've been losing a bit of interest in this story. I am, of course, going to finish it, but its not going to be as long as I originally was going to make it. It'll only stretch to graduation, rather than more time after that. I'm sorry about the huge time skip too, but I really was looking forward to this part and just couldn't wait, plus I find the stuff at Hogwarts to be kind of repetitive too. Please leave a review. And feel free to yell at me for not updating for such a long time.


	14. Chapter 14

Okay, the only thing I can really say here is sorry to the infinite power. That's really the only way I can possibly apologize for such a long wait. However, this is it, finally, the final chapter of Harry Potter and the New Beginnings. This is the end, although there will most likely be a sequel when I have more of that written in advance. I think I only have a chapter or two right now, I'll have to check.

Anyway, here's the chapter and I hope that you enjoy it. Thank you to all of my wonderful readers, and even more to those of you who reviewed. I love getting those messages in my inbox. It's one of the best feelings in the world when you see that somebody took enough time to write even three words to you, so thank you.

~Robin

Disclaimer: If I was J. K. Rowling, then this story would be about eight times longer.

* * *

_Chapter 14_

_April 18th 1999_

Harry woke up completely at peace in the large master bedroom, his arms wrapped around Ginny's torso, fingers stroking her smooth skin. Wait, skin! The previous night's events came crashing back to him and he realized why he was so utterly relaxed. He sighed happily. He hadn't originally wanted to have sex with her the night before. Well, he had wanted to, but he hadn't really intended to.

She, however, had obviously been planning it and had seduced him. Harry pulled her closer to him and kissed the back of her neck, shifting her hair out of the way. She turned in his arms to face him, eyes opening. "Already hoping for a repeat of last night's events, Mr. Potter?" she asked him suggestively before planting a kiss on his adam's apple.

"Well, if you're offering," Harry said, winking at her.

Ginny laughed and rolled away from him, before sitting up, holding the sheet against her naked torso. "Sorry, love, but I think you might have to wait until tonight, at least. It's getting a bit late and I'm still a bit sore," she told him.

Harry glanced at the clock. It was almost eleven. "I never wanted to hurt you, love," he swore.

"Harry, I wanted this to happen. I wanted _us_ to happen. It would have hurt eventually, no matter when we didn't. Think about it. This way, we get a whole lot more time doing what we did last night, and less worrying about the fact that I might be sore for a few hours," she said plainly.

"Alright, I get the point," Harry said, sitting up too.

"Good. I'm going to grab a shower then," she said.

Harry had a sudden idea. "Mind if I join you?" he asked. At the look on her face he rolled his eyes. "I don't mean like that. I just mean that the shower is more than large enough for two people and that we'll be downstairs earlier if we go together," he explained.

"Okay, but no funny business," she warned.

Harry snorted. Yes, _he_ was the one who they had to worry about.

* * *

_May 2nd 1999_

They had spent the rest of the weekend at Potter Manor, exploring the grounds (which included beautiful gardens, sweeping lawns, a small, clean pond, and even a full-sized quidditch pitch. The back edge touched upon the outskirts of a forest and there was a creek a bit farther in. Also outside was a heated pool with a water slide and diving board, and Glen showed Harry how it could be magically enclosed during the winter.

Then they began to make the trips to the Potter Family vault in Gringott's, bringing some things back to the manor. It was mostly portraits and silver and china that had the Potter Family crest on it, but there were other things like afghans, rugs, and small furniture pieces that made the old house feel more like home.

After they had finished at the Manor they returned to the Burrow for the remainder of their holidays before going back to the school, where Hermione immediately started them on an ambitious study schedule that would finish preparing them for their N.E.W.T.'s. The teachers had stopped assigning homework and were going back over everything they had learned in the past seven years that had even the slightest chance of coming up on the tests.

N.E.W.T.'s were just under two weeks away, and for once, it wasn't the only thing on Harry's mind. Of course not. Today was Memorial Day, the first Memorial Day, to be precise. Exactly one year ago, Harry had defeated Voldemort. Right now, Harry was trying not to think about that, trying not to let the memories of that day enter his mind. Unfortunately, after all of the ceremonies, speeches (one made by him), and the reading of the list of the dead, it was all that he could think about.

He wasn't at dinner, knowing that it would be just as somber as the rest of the day had been, and he wasn't sure if he could take it any more. If he entered that room, he knew that there would be nothing stopping him from going completely and utterly mad, trying to block out the stares and the whispers and the sad glances that would follow him everywhere he went.

The door to his dormitory opened and Harry looked up, ready to tell whoever was invading on the first moment of privacy that he had had all day to go away, but he didn't. It was Ginny. She watched him somewhat wearily from across the room, seemingly hesitant about coming in. Harry sighed. She, above anybody, knew how he was feeling. She was the only other person who had been possessed, taken by Voldemort, who had ever had a connection with him the way Harry had. Plus, she had been there for the last week as he had tossed and turned in his sleep, his nightmares returning worse than they ever, and held him, carrying him through them, loving him despite all of the baggage that came with him. For that, Harry would forever be grateful.

He pat the spot next to him on the bed, their bed, really. Ginny slowly walked over and sat carefully next to him. "I know today's been tough for you Harry, but you don't need to close yourself off from everybody like this," she whispered to him, placing her hand on his arm and rubbing it gently as she spoke.

"I'm not trying to close myself off, Gin," Harry retorted. "I'm just... I feel like if I go into the great hall right now, everybody staring, waiting for me to react, that I'm going to explode keeping it all in. I don't want them to see how weak I feel right now."

Ginny sighed and pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. "Well, they aren't here right now. It's just you and me. Will you let _me_ see that? You of all people deserve to show the emotions that you want to show on today, of all days," she urged. "People almost expect you to shed some tears or something. I'm pretty sure that you're the only one who hasn't."

"I just don't know how, Gin. I've been keeping it all bottled up so long. I'm not sure that I can let it out anymore," Harry whispered, bending forward and clutching his head between his hands.

Ginny moved her hand to rub his back. "Just let it out, Harry. You don't have to carry the weight of the Wizarding World on your shoulders anymore. You've done your part in this."

With that, the tears started pouring from his eyes and sobs wracked his body as Harry let every stored thought, nightmare, dream, memory pour out of him. The emotion rolled off of him in waves and he didn't know how long they were there, still in the same position on the edge of the bed, when his tears finally dried and his breathing went back to normal.

"Thanks, Gin," he rasped, throat dry.

"I love you, Harry. It was my pleasure," she replied, kissing him lovingly.

Harry broke it off after a second. "I love you too," he told her, before pressing his lips to hers again.

* * *

_May 30th 1999_

Hermione laid down her quill at the end of the last question of her last exam of her last year as a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was almost depressing, to be leaving the school that had been like home to her for so many years, but it was liberating at the same time. She was going to go out into the Wizarding World and make a difference. She wasn't sure exactly how yet, but she had sent her application in to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, hoping for an apprenticeship to one of the attorneys there. She still wanted to take S.P.E.W. further, and maybe extend it to other magical creatures, like the centaurs and the goblins.

It would depend on her N.E.W.T.'s of course, but she was really hoping to get the position. Ron, of course, thought that just because she was Hermione Granger she would get in, but she had scoffed. He had decided that he was going to help Fred and George at the shop for a while and see how he did with that, but he'd also considered going out for a quidditch team.

Ginny was definitely going for quidditch. She had been invited to try out for the Arrows, the Tornadoes, the Harpies, and at least one other team, but Hermione knew that her heart was set on getting onto the Harpies, and that any other team would be a bit of a let down for her. She'd still play, of course, but it just wasn't her dream.

Honestly, Hermione had no idea what Harry was planning. She knew that he had been planning to be an Auror, but he hadn't mentioned anything about it lately, and as far as she knew, he hadn't sent in an application, not that he would need to. They had sent him several letters lately, asking if he was going to join their ranks, but she was pretty sure that they had just ended up balled up in the garbage. She did know that he was moving into Potter Manor a few weeks after graduation with Ginny, and that they were going to bring Teddy with them, since Harry was his legal guardian.

The hourglass at the front of the hall glowed bright and their time was up. Everybody put their quills down and Professor Tofty, one of the examiners, summoned them with a quick flick of her wand. "Alright, you are now free to go," she said in her quiet voice.

The seventh-years, including Hermione, all rose from their seats and made their way to the exit. Hermione felt a had close around her arm, and turned to see that, to her great surprise, it was Harry grabbing her arm. "I need to ask you something," he told her quietly.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Alright," she said. She lead him into an empty classroom on the first floor and then turned around to face him. "What is it?"

Harry sighed and took something out of his pocket. It was a piece of parchment. I somewhat worn, extremely flat piece of parchment that seemed as though it had been unfolded and smoothed so many times that it might fall apart. He handed it to her. "That came in the post for me a few days ago," he stated.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_ I am writing on behalf of the head coach of Puddlemere United, Edward Tyler, to inform you of the recent opening of the Seeking position on our team. He recently chose to switch teams and go to the Arrows, which leaves us one player short this upcoming season. Our reserve Seeker is good, but we have seen a few of your matches, Mr. Potter, and I can quite frankly say that you are better._

_ Now, if you are interested, we would like to invite you to a trial day to see if you truly are good enough to play professionally with us. We would test you on your Seeking skills, along with basic flying, agility, and fitness tests._

_ If you make the cut, which I am almost certain you will, if you so wish, then you will have the starting Seeker spot on the team. This position would offer 46,000 galleons annually, along with a 500 galleon bonus for every snitch you catch and 2,000 galleons if we make it into the play-offs._

_ If you are interested in our offer, please write back by the 6th of June. Thank you for your consideration._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Peter O'Harris_

_ Manager of Puddlemere United_

Hermione looked up at Harry when she was finished. He looked slightly nervous. "Harry, have you talked to Ginny about this?" she asked him. He shook his head. "Why not? Don't you think it's important that she's involved in this?"

"Of course I do, but I wanted another opinion first," Harry said, shrugging.

Hermione nodded, understanding. "Well, it seems like a very good offer, and I'm certain that you'd do really well playing professionally," she assured him.

"I know, but, I don't know if I should take it," Harry said.

"Why not?"

"Because, I feel like I should be an Auror. I'm good at that sort of thing. They still need more people in the department and I know that I'd be good at that too. I'm just not sure that I want that kind of life anymore, constantly in danger and on the trail of dark magic. I feel like I've had enough of it for a lifetime, for a thousand lifetimes," he ranted, getting it all out into the open.

"Harry, I think, for once, it's time for you to do what you want to do, not what everyone else expects you to do," she said softly, handing the letter back to him.

He hesitated before taking it back, folding it, and tenderly putting it back into the inside pocket of his robe. "I will," he said.

"Harry," Hermione called as he began to leave. He turned around again. "I think that Ginny will be really proud of you and will support your decision no matter what you choose."

"I know," Harry replied.

* * *

_June 21st 1998_

It was gorgeous day. A sad day, but gorgeous all the same. Harry was fingering something in his pocket as he stared out across the grounds from the window in his dormitory. N.E.W.T.'s were finally over and they were graduating in just over a week. Nine more days and he would be saying goodbye to the castle forever, at least as a student. He heard something stir behind him and turned.

Ginny was sitting up in bed, her red hair mussed from sleep, but looking as beautiful as always. She slowly got out of the bed and walked towards Harry, who opened his arms. She climbed between them and sat in his lap, leaning back against his chest. "It was today, wasn't it?" Ginny asked him quietly.

Harry nodded silently. "Two years ago, less than eighteen hours from now, he was dead," he confirmed, his voice catching slightly on the last word. "I didn't even think about it last year."

"Harry, you have to get it into your head that it wasn't your fault," Ginny said turning in his lap to look into his eyes.

"I know that, Gin," Harry promised her. "I really do, I just don't want to forget what happened today. I can't bare the fact that I forgot last year, that I didn't think about everything that was sacrificed today, sacrificed for nothing," he added bitterly.

"Maybe that's not what you should be thinking about," Ginny suggested timidly. "Maybe its time to move on. Not forget, just not to mourn any longer. What's done is done. It happened. That's the end of it. Maybe you need to make some new memories today, rather than dwelling on the old ones."

"I-I don't know if I can do that so easily, Gin," Harry said quietly.

"What was the one thing that he always supported? What was the one thing that Dumbledore said could overpower anything?" Ginny asked Harry, taking his face in her hands and caressing his cheeks.

"Love," Harry said, leaning into her touch and closing his eyes slightly.

"Then maybe we can get over this day together, just the two of us," Ginny suggested. Harry looked at her. "Well, I _do_ love you, and all," Ginny huffed, defending her idea.

Harry chuckled. "I know that, Gin. I love you too, more than anything." He was thinking about the object in his pocket again. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Then I think the two of us spending the day alone together shouldn't be too much of a problem," Ginny concluded.

"That's not what I meant," Harry said, shaking his head slightly. He slipped his hand into his pocket. "What I meant was, will you marry me?" he asked, taking the small black box out of his pocket and opening it before holding it out to Ginny.

She froze. Harry's hand shook a little, causing Ginny to snap out of it. She took the box from him. "You thought you had to ask," she choked out, a smile spreading over her face. "Yes, obviously yes. Of course I'll marry you," she said.

Harry beamed at her and took the ring out of the box before gently sliding it onto her left ring finger. Ginny looked at it in awe. It was a large diamond with an emerald on either side set onto a simple, but elegant, silver band. "Harry, it's beautiful," she said.

"It was my mum's, but it's nowhere near as beautiful as the woman wearing it."

"I love it Harry, thank you," Ginny said. Then a couple of worries seeped into her mind and she bit her lip. "Harry, what are we going to tell my parents? They're going to think we're so young..."

"Your dad already knows," Harry said with a shrug. "I had to ask him, you know, tradition. And we're no younger than they were. We can wait a few years too, make it a long engagement. Ten years if you want it."

"How about we stick with two or three," Ginny said with a slight chuckle, her worries easily subdued.

"That sounds good to me," Harry said. He leaned towards her and barely brushed her lips with his before removing them again.

Ginny gave him a stern look. "There's no way that you're getting away with that tiny kiss," she scolded before leaning closer again and pressing her lips firmly to his, her arms wrapping around his neck and his around her waist so that they were as close as possible, sitting, wound up together, on the small platform in front of the window.

When Ginny pulled back, a few minutes later, they were both short of breath. Ginny leaned back against Harry's chest again as he played absentmindedly with the tips of hair. "How many people knew about this anyway?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"Just your dad, Ron, and Bill. Bill only found out because I had to get somebody I could trust to get the ring out of the Potter Family vault and send it to me," Harry answered.

"How long have you been thinking about this?" Ginny questioned.

"I've been carrying that box around with me for a little more than a month," Harry admitted.

"I love you, you know," Ginny said.

"Yeah, I know. I love you too," Harry replied, planting a small kiss on the top of her head. "When are we going to tell your family?" he asked.

"Well, I'll tell Hermione today, but we can wait and tell the rest of them after term ends, the first night after we get back. I just know Mum'll insist that the whole family is there that night for dinner anyway. It'll be the perfect time."

"Yes, that does sound perfect," Harry agreed. Then they climbed back into bed and lost themselves in each other before going out to face the world, ready to create new happy memories that would eventually outweigh all the bad ones that they already had in their lives.

* * *

That was the end. How did you like it? Thank you, everybody, again, for reading this far. I hope you check out my other stories and I'm grateful to all of you. Hugs to everybody.


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